Its the stupid economy

You couldn't see this coming? 

Companies ship jobs overseas for cheaper labor
Here in the US people lose good paying jobs
Desperate,  they start taking lower paying jobs

But they keep getting ecouraged to Buy Buy Buy
They charge things
They pull money out of their homes, often by shady or even fradulent mortgages

Somebody points out that the king has no clothes, that is,  many mortgages are bad

Housing prices fall
A recession sweeps the planet
Now the companies want consumers to spend money to improve the economy and create jobs

Oh, crap, we've spent all our money, borrowed all we could, maxed our credit

If only we had good paying jobs ...

Wasn't it Henry Ford that raised his workers' wages so they could buy his cars?