So you want recovery? Strengthen the middle class!

How ‘casino capitalism’ undercuts the economy

By ROBERT REICH
Tribune Media Services

Some self-styled “pro-growth centrists” in the Democratic Party are worried the president is going too far in emphasizing widening inequality. They “wish the administration’s focus was on growth over fairness,” says the highly respected National Journal.

They’re wrong. Fairness isn’t inconsistent with growth. It’s essential to it. The only way the economy can grow and create more jobs is if prosperity is more widely shared.

For years, conservative supply-side economists have told America not to be worried about widening inequality. They’ve said tax cuts for corporations and the rich will lead to more growth.

It’s been a cruel hoax. Nothing has trickled down. The Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 ushered in an era of slow growth, fewer jobs, declining wages and deficits.

You want to know the real reason the economy crashed in 2008 and why the recovery has been so anemic? Because so much of the nation’s income and wealth have become concentrated at the top that America’s vast middle class doesn’t have enough purchasing power to keep the economy going.

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