Obama blames automation and business efficiencies for terrible economy

When asked if his administration takes any personal responsibility for the current state of this economy where middle class families are struggling to keep their homes and put food on their tables, Obama says that he didn’t create the condition, but he knows what did:

Well we didn’t create the condition. We haven’t solved it fully yet because it was three decades in the making. I mean if you look at the trend lines, essentially what’s happened is that because of automation, because of globalization, you had a lot of manufacturing move out of the United States. Business got more efficient. They needed fewer workers. They had more leverage over workers. And all this added up to a tougher time for middle class families.

Over the last decade, between 2000 and 2008, the wages and income were flatlined even though the costs from everything from energy, to food, to healthcare were going up. And that problem was being papered-over through consumer debt – home equity loans, credit cards. And then the bubble burst.

So now, I think we’re having to squarely address problems that had been building up over time.


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