The problem in the U.S. is wealth extraction. Ever since NAFTA and banking deregulation took place during the Clinton admin, trillions of dollars have left the U.S. in the form of yearly trade imbalances that has gutted our country and sent $6 trillion dollars into foreign hands(1995-2010). Prior to NAFTA and PNTR with China trade imbalances were minor and our economy was healthy and we employed 10 million more Americans.
Neither party wants to talk about this because it makes them look stupid and corrupt, which they are in spades.
The other culprit. Banking/Wall Street. They created a bubble machine that inflated the stock market then facilitated a faux real-estate boom in the 90's followed by the Dot Com bubble. This sucked out another trillion plus dollars from Americans. This doesn't include the latest real-estate bubble.
Then there is the Bush tax cuts cuts that cost us a trillion or so. The money was never reinvested putting Americans to work, it was put in hedge funds and other vehicles that earned the rich a fat return.
Iraq and Afghanistan cost us conservatively $1.2 trillion and latter is a ongoing expense of $12 billion a month.
Then there's TARP/TALC/ and all the tax free breaks major corporations get.
Trillion here a trillion there, it ads up.
Yes, lets not alter our trade, tax and foreign policies that put us in this mess.