Well, I do not believe that this country is bankrupt. We are a great country filled with people who, when we share a dream, can achieve great things. It's time for us to come out of our shells. It's time to embrace change and be more positive about this country and its future. The unemployment rate is going down, and so is the federal deficit.
Productivity continues to rise.
A couple of reasons, I think. One is that our economy changed in odd ways during the 1980s. At the same time, a wave of corporate mergers and acquisitions and restructuring had the effect of increasing the stock value of companies without increasing the number of jobs or of the number of things produced. As a result, we actually saw a growth in income inequality during the 1980s. The rich got richer, the poor got poorer, and the middle class got squeezed.