The New Economy... Sucks

Let me say right here and now I was a bit of a fan of Reaganomics for a little while in the 1990's.
Oh, don't get me wrong, I voted Republican in 1980 but was always a registered Democrat. I had a little concern about "supply-side economics" but once I found myself in a career that relied on it, I was okay with it.
Now, we have this; the worse economic mess in years, perhaps the worse in a few decades, and I feel as if the US has been caught with its figurative britches down. By the mid-1990's, I began seeing the severe downside of supply-side; jobs were being sent abroad, mostly manufacturing. Most Americans (guilty here) were borrowing beyond their means. The only things Americans seemed capable of producing was software the past decade, plus labyrinthine investment strategies that seemed aimed at helping those that have money make more.
Mean time, I watched my employers get gobbled up by bigger companies (not so much a problem when I worked as a astronomy educator at a couple of science centers). Now, here I am working as a contractor for a very large financial corporation, with no paid holidays, sick days or benefits worth a damn. And my hours are being cut.
This is not the American Dream as I envisioned. And it looks as though it is going to get worse.