A service economy? I think you mean SERVANT
by
gbgasser
I was in college when I first heard the term service economy. President Ronald Reagan used the term to describe the changes our nation was going through following the 70s. It described a situation where, due to globalization and cheap and abundant oil, "we" could afford to have China or any other number of populous low wage nations build stuff cheaply and then ship it to us. We could then focus on service industries and knowledge industries, using our superior resources in those areas to accomplish this. America would become a net importer of finished manufactured goods and a net exporter of ideas, know-how and financialization schemes.
It actually wasn't a bad idea, in and of itself. Viewing the world as one big marketplace, why not let each country focus on what it does best, not worrying about individual countries trade balances but simply realizing that some countries will be net producers while others will be net consumers? So what is the problem with it?
The problem was not really the plan but the execution of the plan and the model of the world by those executing the plan. The plan, along with the cult of supply side economics, combined to create a world where our middle class is slowly disappearing and only private markets and owners are considered worthwhile. All public sector workers are leeches sucking off the productivity of others, denying the true entrepeneurs of profitable opportunities.
The rising influence of our finance sector is a direct result of this supply side religion where capital is king and workers are just another "cost" to businesses.
Looking at the ideas coming out of the modern GOP its clear they have moved even further away from an idea that we all matter. That we all have something important to add to our economy. No, today only the rich matter,only THEIR TAXES must be cut, only THEIR COSTS must be reduced and only THEIR PROFITS will be protected. They see the economy as serving the needs of the rich. They see the ideal economy as one where a very few players control all the resources and the rest of us "compete" to curry favors from them. We will all just undercut each other by agreeing to work for less and less as long as they just pick us. Its like the "Americas Got Talent" view of our world. They will sit back and choose those of us who impress them the most, and we'll just be ecstatic that they picked us!
Many of us would rather see the people with plenty of buying power while businesses compete to meet our needs. Those that do well get lots of customers and make lots of money,those that dont.............. back to the drawing board to figure out what sells.
In this world businesses are the servants to the people, the people arent servants to the rich.