Have we taken leave of our census?

U.S. census data released today show that 50% of Americans are now classed as poor, or low income. 

Yes, the largest consumer economy of the world is failing rapidly, mired in debt and deficits, and clearly unable to find any political consensus for real action. And the largest debts were created by the supposedly fiscally responsible Republican administrations under Reagan and both Bushes (George senior, and little George WMD Bush).

By some reports, Canada is not in as much trouble as the U.S. and many other countries....yet.  But the parallels and the trends in Canada are frightening, and the Harper "government" seems determined to speed down the same dead end highway as the US.

Yes, it's still true though that the wealthy in both nations continue to get wealthier, promoting Adam Smith's free markets (which are a myth) guided by an invisible hand. Clearly, for at least half of the U.S. citizens, it is much more like a very visible backhand from the economy.

But this is not about right wing versus left wing. Consumer societies exist and are in trouble under all sorts of flavors of politics. It is about the fundamental flaws of consumerist economies in general, and the underlying assumption that perpetual growth can continue on a finite planet.

It is about the utter failure of neoclassical economics.