So the question of “why does the economy stink”, in terms of what are the (al pi teva) underlying factors that are hampering commerce, has a million different legitimate answers.
The question in terms of what are the factors that people are responsible for*, however, [these days for sure] is fairly easy to answer. Various government policies and actions, for one, are incredibly destructive, such as the myriad [and often downright loony] “environmental” and “race-based” regulations. (Government reg’s, in totality (including the good ones), are estimated to cost somewhere between something like $1.7-2 trillion for people/business’s to implement + the government to enforce.)
*Greed, for example, is human nature, and its existence is not a human achievement. Thus it’s silly to blame economic woes on an aspect of human nature that cannot and will not be changed [in the aggregate], as it will never lead to any kind of solution to immunize the economy from said vices of human nature.