It's progress

[ProSense]

The middle class has been in decline for decades. This December 2009 article by Elizabeth Warren lays out the problem that has now become standard for columnists: America Without a Middle Class

Can you imagine an America without a strong middle class? If you can, would it still be America as we know it?

Today, one in five Americans is unemployed, underemployed or just plain out of work. One in nine families can't make the minimum payment on their credit cards. One in eight mortgages is in default or foreclosure. One in eight Americans is on food stamps. More than 120,000 families are filing for bankruptcy every month. The economic crisis has wiped more than $5 trillion from pensions and savings, has left family balance sheets upside down, and threatens to put ten million homeowners out on the street.

Families have survived the ups and downs of economic booms and busts for a long time, but the fall-behind during the busts has gotten worse while the surge-ahead during the booms has stalled out. In the boom of the 1960s, for example, median family income jumped by 33% (adjusted for inflation). But the boom of the 2000s resulted in an almost-imperceptible 1.6% increase for the typical family. While Wall Street executives and others who owned lots of stock celebrated how good the recovery was for them, middle class families were left empty-handed.

The crisis facing the middle class started more than a generation ago. Even as productivity rose, the wages of the average fully-employed male have been flat since the 1970s.



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Couple of days ago, Frank Rich addressed the disparity. Today, Bob Herbert wrote: The Data and the Reality. (All h/t Bobswern's diary The Theft Of Hope)

The recovery isn't as strong as it should be, but the economic crisis that began in 2007 was the worst in more than 70 years.

Chart Book: The Legacy of the Great Recession

The United States went through its longest, and by most measures worst economic recession since the Great Depression between December 2007 and June of 2009. This chartbook will document the course of the economy following that recession against the background of how deep a hole the recession created – and how much deeper that hole would have been without the financial stabilization and fiscal stimulus policies enacted in late 2008 and early 2009.

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In the face of the worst economic crisis in decades, when the measure of success is that the President hasn't reversed/undone everything Bush did or hasn't changed the trajectory of America's downfall enough, he's bound to be considered in a less than positive light. This is of course completely ironic given that most of his predecessors made significant contributions to the country's downfall.

An objective measurement recognizes that this President has made progress in trying to right many of these wrongs in the face of significant opposition from forces beyond even the current Republican members of Congress.

The miracle of Dodd-Frank is that it got stronger as it moved through the process. The question now is whether that forward momentum will be reversed. Because the factions in the executive branch mirror those in Congress, it's worth looking back at the legislative story.

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Reformers ultimately prevailed on a few key issues, including tough regulation of financial derivatives, the Volcker Rule, and Warren's consumer protection agency, while the moderates and their Wall Street allies were able to block other proposals outright, such as breaking up the big banks. But time after time, to gain the support of key swing votes, the bill's managers had to punt details to the executive branch

link

The President appointed Elizabeth Warren to establish the new consumer bureau, for the first time ever, there is a consumer advocate an agency and force to begin to counter the abuse that has plagued consumers.

Elizabeth Warren Recruits Dodd-Frank Enforcers From 50 States

Final phase of federal law restricting credit card fees, interest rates begins

Swiped: The Fed enters the skirmish over debit card fees

Wall Street reform gives regulators power over executive pay

Fed's massive data release offers new insight into financial crisis

Instead of losing more than 800,000 jobs monthly, the economy added a monthly average of more than 100,000 jobs this year. There are other positive signs.

President Obama inherited a huge economic crisis and decades' old inequities. It's going to take time to make significant progress toward reversing these trends, but there is no point in writing off the positive steps that are being made.

[ProSense]

1. No comment? n/t

[ProSense]

2. I guess not.

:rofl:

[AtomicKitten]

3. Positive steps are not written off, they are ignored. Doesn't fit the narrative, doncha know?

K&R

[Safetykitten]

4. Do you go to other economic sites? Ever?

[ProSense]

5. What does that have to do with the OP? n/t

[annabanana]

6. Well hell.. I've rec'd worse....

I wonder how deep into the unrec hole this is?

edit: I REALLY like Elizabeth Warren