Washington Post columnist Steven Pearlstein puts it succinctly: “Take one financial crisis, fold in a federal budget crisis, add in a nasty recession and mix with two decades of rapid globalization, and what you have is a recipe for the deep economic insecurity now felt by much of the American middle class.
“What has been revealed is that the systems set up during an industrial era to provide health care, retirement income and support during economic downturns are inadequate for and ill-suited to our post-industrial, globalized economy. Not only do these systems no longer provide the economic security Americans crave, but they have reduced the efficiency and flexibility of labor markets, exacerbated the growth of income inequality and reduced the competitiveness of American companies.”
But the debate seems to be about turning backward.