it's difficult to pin the current malaise completely on either of the popular political parties. what we're experiencing is the inevitable culmination of the transition to a less industrial society, and that transition has been happening for more than three decades. only recently has the easy credit that was masking the problem collapsed; prior to 2008, it was possible for Americans with stagnant wage growth to continue to increase consumption. that was always a house of cards, though. cheaper goods also slowed the arrival of the crash.
the goal has been decreasing prices of consumer goods at any societal cost. the result of that is that a significant portion of the revenue generated by production that used to go to workers (and then back into the economy through consumption) now goes overseas. while this could turn into an outsourcing rant for me, i would have to admit that mechanization can lead to the same scenario, and most people don't want to see a halt in new technology. however, some industry will have to absorb the displaced workers for this cycle to cease.
this is far from the first transitional period America has lived through. not so long ago, we were an agricultural economy. however, when that changed, industry was able to pick up the displaced workers. if a new growth industry is unable to utilize our workforce soon, i'm not sure how a 70 percent consumer spending GDP can recover, as it requires employed people with income to spend. i don't see a lot of room for government to pick up the slack, either, considering our current debt situation.
if i had the magic wand, i would seriously reallocate our tax revenue and spend it on infrastructure repair / rebuilding and investment in domestic energy technology. a tiered corporate tax that encourages corporations to hire domestically might help. and as much as i don't think tax cuts are the be all / end all, our corporate tax rates are not competitive for smaller corporations while loopholes allow larger ones to skirt taxes almost entirely. a clearer corporate tax policy would benefit everyone, and might encourage corporations to headquarter here.
i suppose my long winded point is that it's critical to solve the employment problem without getting quagmired in the tar pit of partisan gamesmanship. this is unlikely to happen, unfortunately.