Quote Of The Day

Robert Reich summarizes our economic troubles:

The underlying problem is structural, not cyclical. There will be no return to normal because normal got us into the hole in the first place. And the normal kind of prescriptions can’t possibly get us out. Until the economy is restructured so more Americans share in its gains, the economy won’t make many gains. We’ll be forever trying to scale a wall that can’t be, because the vast majority of Americans lack the purchasing power to move upward.

The Tortoise Economy

As Reich and a whole slew of economists recently have pointed out recently, the current economic growth isn't enough to get us out of the hole. In fact, we're still losing ground. The economy has been creating something like 50k to 65k jobs each of the last few months, and we need at least 100k new jobs each month just to take care of new workers entering the work force. In other words, the current growth doesn't even keep up with increases in the country's population.

The Democrats and their enablers, and the Republicans and theirs, are equally clueless about what to do. At least, they are if you look at their actions and the public statements in which they try to explain them. As Eli pointed out today, there's every reason to believe that Congress will pass, and President Obama will sign, legislation extending all of the Bush tax cuts, including those for the wealthy. The signs are all there. If they won't even make the rich pay what they used to in the interests of fiscal responsibility, it's most unlikely they'll do anything meaningful to help the middle class and the poor. Anyone who hasn't noticed the weasel-wording and the hemming and hawing hasn't been paying attention.

This, among other reasons, is why I'm so apathetic about who controls Congress next year. In the matter of how to run the economy, there is no difference between the two parties that means anything.