Fed Poised to Mark the End of an Era
After-tax incomes adjusted for inflation have expanded at a 1.8% annual rate in this expansion, slower than the average rate of 3.3% during the previous three. Had income grown at the historical rates, Americans would have had $1.2 trillion more at their disposal.
“The economy didn’t do great,” said Michael Bordo , an economic historian at Rutgers University in New Jersey. “We had a slow recovery.” Source WSJ 12-16-15
The economy didn’t do great‼️ Bazinga‼️‼️‼️
And why didn’t the economy do great? Is it because Bernie’s billionaires did much better? No‼️ Is it because the system is rigged? No‼️
It is because there was limited focus on growing the economy, because economic uncertainty was not clarified, because more and more regulatory burden has been placed on companies of all sizes, because ideology trumped innovation, because we fail to recognize the structural changes to work in a global environment. Yes‼️‼️ This isn’t 1934 and policies based on that era won’t work.
The federal reserve has stimulated to no end and we had this that was supposed to jump-start things.
And then there is the long-term reality:
Beneath the dry statistics of the latest report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, we can see that future emerging. Over the next decade, the service sector will provide 95% of all the new jobs. Manufacturing, which shed more than two million jobs between 2004 and 2014, will shrink by an additional 800,000, to only 7% of the workforce. Of the 15 occupations with the most projected job growth, only four ask for a bachelor’s degree; eight require no formal education credentials; nine offer median annual wages under $30,000.
Few Americans know these statistics, but most of them are living the reality they represent. Since the beginning of the 21st century, the economy has ceased to work for households at and below the middle. A recent report from the Pew Research Center finds that the median income for middle-income households is about where it was in 1997. For lower-income households, median income stands where it did in 1996. Source: The Bleak Reality Driving Trump’s Rise
WSJ 12-16-15.
If you disagree, please explain why this recovery was so bad compared with the previous recession periods What’s different?
QUINNSCOMMENTARY 
We are in recovery. Yes, by historical standards, a weak one. Some areas of the country are doing well. I now live in the Seattle area, where construction cranes can be seen sprouting across the landscape. My hometown area of Buffalo, N.Y. is merely surviving.
The facts presented about the current and future general economic outlook are grim, at least as they compared to the economy that existed during most of my lifetime. (I’m 68.) It used to be said that a rising economic tide lifted all boats. We are now in a period where there are three tides: one for the highly intelligent-highly educated, one for the middle, and one for the bottom third. The highlies will be doing great. The middles will muddle. The bottoms will be bouncing down an incline.
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Actually, the problem is economic growth which has not been a main focus for years. If we can boost growth, everything from salaries to the Social Security trust will benefit and even the SS COLA may get a boost. Instead we have seen a growth in SNAP, SS disability, general welfare and a decrease in employment participation all of which compound the growth problem.
In addition, every means tested program, including Obamacare, provides a disincentive for people to earn more. As far as the rich go, their growth has come most from a rising stock market especially given most CEO pay is equity pay at risk. Such a rise is also good for those with pensions, 401k and IRAs.
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We are in recovery? I don’t see it from my point of view.
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Say more about why you feel that way.
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