The shift to impatient finance Crotty identifies has fostered malignant cultural and spiritual crises - instant gratification - that are simply beyond the ability of neo-classical economics based on mathematical modeling to either recognize or deal with. This is why U.S. elites, whether they be Democrats or Republicans, seem to act as a monolithic block in supporting and implementing economic, financial, and fiscal policies that are consistently wrong: the ruling economic theory is wrong. The elites are unable to "think outside the box."

Add to that the current system of campaign finance, the dominance of MSM by a few sources that are owned by, embedded in or beholden to the financial community and the reasons why none of the reforms you discussed have been part of the current discourse become apparent.

Frustrated letters to the editor probably constitute 95% of the intelligent public discourse at this point. The ground upon which the campaigns are waged is so divorced from any basis in economic reality that discussions of real problems and possible solutions are too hot to be allowed to occur in the political discourse.  In the stylized and simplistic terms employed in these campaigns no one is confident they could control the discussion to their advantage. Truth could be fatal to one's cause.

"It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."