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Why this is the worst economic recovery on record
Key Excerpts from Article on Website of Christian Science Monitor
Posted: May 7th, 2013
http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Robert-Reich/2013/0415/Why...
Were now witnessing what happens when all of the economic gains go to the top. Four years into a so-called recovery and were still below recession levels in every important respect except the stock market. A measly 88,000 jobs were created in March, and total employment remains some 3 million below its pre-recession level. Labor-force participation is its lowest since 1979. The underlying problem is the vast middle class is running out of money. They cant borrow more and shouldnt, given what happened after the last borrowing binge. Real annual median household income keeps falling. Its down to $45,018, from $51,144 in 2010. All the gains from the recovery continue to go to the top. Widening inequality is not inevitable. If we wanted to reverse it and restore middle-class prosperity, we could. We could award tax cuts to companies that link the pay of their hourly workers to profits and productivity, and that keep the total pay of their top 5 executives within 20 times the pay of their median worker. And impose higher taxes on companies that dont. We could raise the minimum wage to half the average wage. We could increase public investment in education, including early-childhood. We could eliminate college loans and allow all students to repay the cost of their higher education with a 10 percent surcharge on the first 10 years of income from full-time employment. And we could pay for all this by adding additional tax brackets at the top and increasing the top marginal tax rate to what it was before 1981 at least 70 percent.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on the collapse of the global economy assisted by speculation and profiteering by financial corporations, click here.
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