No Real Recovery Without The Middle Class

For whom is there an economic recovery?   Everybody?  Does our recovery involve the widest participation of all members of society? 

This link and those that follow can help us understand why the bear got its head stuck in a plastic jar.

Maybe the President and the Pope should start suggesting that we widely distribute government protected jobs.

Maybe redistributing government protected jobs will have an effect on who we designate as our leaders.   PB
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From Joel Kotkin writing at Forbes.com:

What if they gave a recovery, and the middle class were never invited?

Well, that’s an experiment we are running now, and, even with the recent strengthening of the jobs market, it’s not looking very good....

The labor market may be strengthening, with the unemployment rate falling to 6.1% last month, but too many of the new jobs are low wage or part time.

They aren’t providing the kick the economy got in the last, more broad-based expansion from robust consumer spending.

Wage growth has been weak, rising 2.5% annually since 2009, according to Bloomberg, compared with a 4.3% annual rise from 2001 to 2007.

Consumer spending, which makes up roughly 70% of the economy, has expanded an average 2.2% since the recession ended, behind the 3% advance in the prior expansion.

And many working-age people are still sitting discouraged on the sidelines – the labor force participation rate remains the lowest since 1979.

People in marginal or part-time jobs are not likely to drive consumer spending.

Instead we have seen the emergence of a new, top-heavy consumer market.

Since 1992 the top 5% of households have increased their share of total spending to almost 40%, up from 27% in 1992...
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Link: http://www.forbes.com/sites/joelkotkin/2014/07/10/there-will-be-no-real-recovery-without-the-middle-class/