First, I read an article about how the Maker movement
Then I listened to a pair of podcasts from Coffee & Markets.
The first podcast talks about the middle class getting squeezed out of existence by government redirecting too many resources to retirees and other social programs. (I reject his premise to an extent. He did the “split the pie” nonsense again when what is needed is growing the pie.)
The second talking about how the current generation doesn’t have the oppourtunities that his generation had, and that young people need to go out and be active in politics and start thinking about things.
My response to these two podcasts together was “wait a minute, one of those things that extra, underutilized labor is going into is these Maker projects.” I still think that reduced regulation and reduced propping-up of failed businesses is the way forward, but this decentralized revival of manufacturing might be another thing to bring the quality of living up and keep the middle class going.
The current system of huge corporations protected from competition and failing by government regulations and bailouts is corrupt and rotting from the inside. The system of keeping people employed by implementing layers of government busy-paperwork is holding us back. It remains to be seen if groups of individuals and tiny companies can break the morass.