From Robert Reich's Facebook page today:
"Economic
forecasters exist to make astrologers look good. Still, the latest
forecast from the Congressional Budget Office is sobering. Its
economists anticipate a “new normal” average annual growth of only 2.1%
(down from the average of 3 to 4% over the last half century), with job
growth averaging only 70,000 a month (down from an average of 150,000 to
200,000 over the last half century). Some of
this is be due to an aging American population, but some is surely the
result of widening inequality. Since the start of the recovery, 95% of
all economic gains have gone to the richest 1%, who spend only a
fraction of what they’re accumulating. As a result, the rest of the
nation doesn’t have the purchasing power to get the economy out of first
gear. If this continues much longer, the “new normal” may be far worse
than the CBO anticipates."
