How Capitalism Flopped offers a very concise analysis of our present situation. My comment is as follows.
Economics 101 teaches us that a shift in the supply curve results in greater supply at lower prices but, for markets to clear at a profitable level, the demand curve must also shift. The best way to handle this is by paying higher wages, but producers wanted to keep productivity gains for themselves, so credit became much easier to obtain and consumers were conditioned to think in terms of the minimum monthly payment, putting themselves into debt peonage until they simply couldn’t borrow any more. We build a sandcastle economy that washed away in the rising tide that was supposed to lift all boats.
The supply side was the panacea for a stagnant economy, but it soon became a narcotic upon which capitalism overdosed and died. Reviving the economy will mean getting people to spend again, and the only way to do that is to employ them at higher wages. In my novel, Banana Republican Blues, Eddie Conover, the former owner of a blown-up hedge fund comes to this realization as he travels across our bankrupt country, seeking work as a roadhouse chef.