It's interesting to see all this focus on the stagnation of median real incomes (the "middle class" income) but no discussion of how US _per capita_ (mean) real incomes have done pretty well in recent years (until the Great Recession hit). The reason why these two trends can coexist is because of increasing inequality (for example, one billionaire becoming a zillionaire by impoverishing the bottom 49% of the income distribution raises the mean income while leaving the median income unaffected). Neither of the two books mentioned in this review seem to address the question: why haven't US workers been able to capture the benefits of the increases of their productivity?
Of course, this rightward shift of the income distribution was the _whole point_ of the neoliberal policy revolution that started circa August, 1979 (when Paul Volcker was coronated). That stuff about how benefits would trickle down to the rest of us was mere propaganda. > Don't Worry, Be Unhappy > Tyler Cowen says the good times are over. Where have we heard this > before? > By Timothy Noah > Posted Monday, Feb. 21, 2011, at 1:27 PM ET > > The Wall Street Journal's Bob Davis and David Wessel are perhaps > the two best business reporters working in newspapers today. In > 1998 they published a book that Paul Krugman praised as "the best > … I've ever read about how a changing economy affects the lives > and work of real people." Its unblinkered reportage, sweeping > historical research, and lucid analysis of previous economic > trends make the book a compelling and informative read 13 years > later. But when I tell you the title, you'll wince: Prosperity: > The Coming 20-Year Boom and What It Means to You. Davis and Wessel > argued that productivity gains from computers combined with rising > enrollment in community colleges were poised to rescue the middle > class from a quarter-century of economic stagnation. It didn't > happen. You can buy Prosperity today for a penny. -- Jim Devine / "Living a life of quiet desperation -- but always with style!" _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
