Robert Reich on who's losing most in the 'recovery'
by Gaius Publius on 7/05/2010 04:25:00 PM
At this point, it's not news that all the intellectually honest economists are mouthing the DD-word - the phrase "double-dip" has passed a lot of speculative lips lately.
So it's no surprise that Robert Reich is in that group, and to his credit, has been for some time. Here's his latest (my emphasis):
The economy is still in the gravitational pull of the Great Recession and all the booster rockets for getting us beyond it are failing. The odds of a double dip are increasing.
In June the nation added fewer jobs than necessary merely to keep up with population growth (private hiring rose by 83,000 after adding only 33,000 jobs in May). The typical workweek declined. Average earnings dropped. Home sales are down. Retail sales are down. Factory orders in May suffered their biggest tumble since March of last year.
So what are we doing about it? Less than nothing. The states are running an anti-stimulus program (raising taxes, cutting services, laying off teachers, firefighters, police and other employees) that’s now bigger than the federal stimulus program.
But this caught my eye (still my emphasis):
The people who are suffering the most from the failure of public officials and the greed of large bankers are the least able to endure it. Unemployment among people with four-year college degrees is barely over 5 percent; among high-school dropouts it’s over 25 percent. Those who have been jobless the longest or who have left the labor force altogether are men over fifty who are least likely to get back in. Families most in need are losing the services - state-supported Medicaid, child dental care, after-school programs for the kids, public transit - they most depend on.
If that isn't class warfare, I don't know what is.
Just to show what that looks like, percentage-wise - according to the 2006-2008 Census, 27.4% of Americans hold college degrees, i.e., a Bachelor's degree or higher (h/t/ Surrender, Dorothy).
That means more than 70% of Americans are standing on increasingly soggy quicksand, while the rest are mostly safer. What's the view like, for those who are slowly sinking? Not pretty, and not common-cause inspiring either.
Team Change-You-Can-Really-Believe-In, take note. Many don't believe. And there's an election coming. Think you can fool most of those people, this time?
GP