My pet theory of today's economic problems (by 'todays' i mean approximately: since mid-1970s) is different. I think the problem is that approximately by that point, the pace of technological and therefore, economic and social changes exceeded the limits of average people's adaptibility. In part that was because of limits imposed by 'slow' institutions (like education), but mostly, simply mental.
Therefore, GDP growth have slowed (because most people are underperforming or doing wrong jobs as their view of the worls is lagging behind). Therefore, there is a redistribution of income to the top 1% because to all previously existing factors of success, a new a huge one added being the ability to adapt to change quickly.
Bad thing about this is that it is a permanent condition and is only likely to get worse. And, we don't want that to stop because there is little growth factors except technology left out (all free and good soil is taken 100 years ago, cheap labor is also gone, capital is abundant and cheap, too - we can't make it any better). Even change in how we grow children is unlikely and undesirable (imagine telling your child 'you don't need to be loyal or do a good job, just look where the money goes and follow'). So, this is here to stay.
Really? What kind of jobs do you think people are not adapting into? Twitter hashtag analysts?
I would that argue that since the 70's, technology has mostly improved the stuff at the top of Maslow's pyramid - entertainment, communication, computation - while the stuff at the bottom (housing, food, clothing, energy) has been fairly stagnant.
(...) Over the last several decades groceries have been one of the real bargains in America, and the average rate of inflation on dozens of food items tracked by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has consistently been less than increases in the purchasing power of the average American family. As a result, the percentage of income that families devote to their food purchases has fallen sharply since the food inflation of the 1970s (...). Recent price spikes have done little to reverse years of moderation in the cost of food.
The good news started for most consumers in the 1980s and has continued since then. In the decade before, food prices rose at average annual clip of 8.4 percent, which was more than a full point above the overall inflation rate. But in the 1980s, the rate of inflation on food items declined to 4.6 percent annually, nearly a point below general inflation. That downward momentum continued in the 1990s, when food prices rose by a mere 2.8 percent annually, a trend that has pretty much continued in the new century until the last few months.
Therefore, GDP growth have slowed (because most people are underperforming or doing wrong jobs as their view of the worls is lagging behind). Therefore, there is a redistribution of income to the top 1% because to all previously existing factors of success, a new a huge one added being the ability to adapt to change quickly.
Bad thing about this is that it is a permanent condition and is only likely to get worse. And, we don't want that to stop because there is little growth factors except technology left out (all free and good soil is taken 100 years ago, cheap labor is also gone, capital is abundant and cheap, too - we can't make it any better). Even change in how we grow children is unlikely and undesirable (imagine telling your child 'you don't need to be loyal or do a good job, just look where the money goes and follow'). So, this is here to stay.