"Why The Economy Can't Get Out of First Gear" by Robert Reich

[applegrove]

Why The Economy Can't Get Out of First Gear

by Robert Reich

http://robertreich.org/post/24974761785

"SNIP...............................................

Rarely in history has the cause of a major economic problem been so clear yet have so few been willing to see it.

The major reason this recovery has been so anemic is not Europe’s debt crisis. It’s not Japan’s tsumami. It’s not Wall Street’s continuing excesses. It’s not, as right-wing economists tell us, because taxes are too high on corporations and the rich, and safety nets are too generous to the needy. It’s not even, as some liberals contend, because the Obama administration hasn’t spent enough on a temporary Keynesian stimulus.

The answer is in front of our faces. It’s because American consumers, whose spending is 70 percent of economic activity, don’t have the dough to buy enough to boost the economy – and they can no longer borrow like they could before the crash of 2008.


.................................................SNIP"

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

1. Catch-22. The economy won't pick up unless people buy more...

they can't buy more because the economy won't pick up.

This won't end well.

[brentspeak]

2. Perhaps it's because of the "free trade" deals that wonks like Reich sold like snake oil n/t

[U4ikLefty]

4. and Clinton

his boss

[PDJane]

3. The economy won't pick up because the government won't spend on jobs and social services.

They are the spender of last resort. Whatever got the world here, the same old won't get us out.