rssIncome Inequality and Recession
Wednesday, September 15, 2010 at 11:53 am
- 52 Comments
Today, the Democrats on the Joint Economic Committee are out with a politically charged, compellingly presented report on the relationship between income inequality and the recession.
First, they put the blame for growing American income inequality on George W. Bush’s shoulders, arguing, “Middle?class incomes stagnated under President Bush. During the recovery of the 1990s under President Clinton, middle?class incomes grew at a healthy pace. However, during the jobless recovery of the 2000s under President Bush, that trend reversed course. Middle?class incomes continued to fall well into the recovery, and never regained their 2001 high.”
Then, they note that income inequality might have precipitated the recession. “Stagnant incomes for all but the wealthiest Americans meant an increased demand for credit, fueling the growth of an unsustainable credit bubble,” the JEC writes. “Bank deregulation allowed financial institutions to create new exotic products in which the ever?richer rich could invest. The result was a bubble?based economy that came crashing down in late 2007.”
They note that the income gap tends to yawn before major economic crises.
Though income inequality has in fact gotten worse and worse since the 1960s.
They note that middle-class incomes climbed during Clinton and actually fell during Bush — meaning that most families became poorer, not richer, over the course of a decade.
And argue for many causes — a primary one being financial deregulation. This both helped middle-class families become indebted, and high-income earners to find investment products to take even bigger shares of the gains, the JEC writes: “The everyday consequence of stagnant middle?class paychecks is the creation of demand for credit in order to make ends meet – and to keep up with the Joneses, as the rich get richer. Former Chief Economist of the International Monetary Fund Raghuram Rajan argues that, instead of attacking the root causes of rising income inequality in the U.S., policymakers made access to credit much easier for low?income households in order to support their spending.”
The JEC argues that more-progressive taxing might help. (The huge bump in inequality during the Clinton years is due to the tech and stock bubble.) “Policymakers today have the opportunity to continue the work begun by President Clinton,” the JEC writes, specifically referring to the current Congressional battle over taxes. “[They have the opportunity to] help steer America back onto a course of economic growth where rising tides lift all boats, rather than just the wealthiest American’s yachts. Retaining the Bush tax cuts for all households, instead of letting them expire for the top two income brackets, would make the income tax system less progressive and could further exacerbate income inequality and economic fragility.”
Follow Annie Lowrey on Twitter
52 Comments
Pingback posted September 15, 2010 @ 12:05 pm
[...] full post on The Washington Independent advertising Share and [...]
Pingback posted September 15, 2010 @ 12:35 pm
[...] Lowrey* catches a very nice graph from the Democrats on the Joint Economic Committee that compares tax rates on the [...]
Pingback posted September 15, 2010 @ 1:23 pm
[...] Lowrey at the Washington Independent points us to a report on income inequality from the Senate’s Joint Economic Committee. She highlights several graphs and conclusions [...]
Pingback posted September 15, 2010 @ 2:25 pm
[...] Income Inequality and Recession « The Washington Independent [...]
Pingback posted September 15, 2010 @ 4:18 pm
[...] Income Inequality and Recession « The Washington Independent [...]
Pingback posted September 15, 2010 @ 4:28 pm
[...] Income Inequality and Recession « The Washington Independent [...]
Pingback posted September 15, 2010 @ 4:56 pm
[...] Income Inequality and Recession « The Washington Independent [...]
Pingback posted September 15, 2010 @ 5:08 pm
[...] Income Inequality and Recession « The Washington Independent [...]
Pingback posted September 15, 2010 @ 5:20 pm
[...] Income Inequality and Recession « The Washington Independent [...]
Pingback posted September 15, 2010 @ 5:51 pm
[...] Income Inequality and Recession « The Washington Independent [...]
Pingback posted September 15, 2010 @ 6:49 pm
[...] Income Inequality аnԁ Recession « Thе Washington Self-determining [...]
Pingback posted September 15, 2010 @ 7:51 pm
[...] Moreover, the Joint Economic Committee released a report today showing that the Bush tax cuts massively increased economic inequality and precipitated the Great Recession by fueling the need from the middle class for credit and debt and bubble-driven economics. Annie Lowrey writes: [...]
Pingback posted September 15, 2010 @ 8:09 pm
[...] Income Inequality and Recession Sep 15th, 2010 by admin. Income Inequality and Recession The Washington Independent Then, they note that income inequality might have precipitated the recession. “Stagnant incomes for all but the wealthiest Americans meant an increased … http://washingtonindependent.com/97460/income-inequality-and-recession [...]
Pingback posted September 15, 2010 @ 8:24 pm
[...] Income Inequality аnd Recession « Thе Washington Independent [...]
Pingback posted September 15, 2010 @ 11:47 pm
[...] Income Inequality and Recession « The Washington Independent [...]
Pingback posted September 16, 2010 @ 12:37 am
[...] Income Inequality and Recession « The Washington Independent [...]
Pingback posted September 16, 2010 @ 1:03 am
[...] Income Inequality and Recession « The Washington Independent [...]
Pingback posted September 16, 2010 @ 2:21 am
[...] Income Inequality and Recession « The Washington Independent [...]
Pingback posted September 16, 2010 @ 3:21 am
[...] Income Inequality and Recession « The Washington Independent [...]
Pingback posted September 16, 2010 @ 5:32 am
[...] Income Inequality and Recession « The Washington Independent [...]
Pingback posted September 16, 2010 @ 6:35 am
[...] Income Inequality and Recession « The Washington Independent [...]
Pingback posted September 16, 2010 @ 7:35 am
[...] Income Inequality and Recession « The Washington Independent [...]
Pingback posted September 16, 2010 @ 8:13 am
[...] Income Inequality and Recession « The Washington Independent [...]
Comment posted September 16, 2010 @ 12:18 pm
www,trickler.org
See how your pay and life in the US changes in a more equal or less equal economy.
Pingback posted September 16, 2010 @ 9:03 pm
[...] Income Inequality and Recession « The Washington Independent [...]
Pingback posted September 16, 2010 @ 10:39 pm
[...] Income Inequality and Recession « The Washington Independent [...]
Pingback posted September 17, 2010 @ 2:59 am
[...] Income Inequality and Recession « The Washington Independent [...]
Pingback posted September 17, 2010 @ 4:09 am
[...] Income Inequality and Recession « The Washington Independent [...]
Pingback posted September 17, 2010 @ 1:34 pm
[...] Income Inequality and Recession « The Washington Independent [...]
Pingback posted September 17, 2010 @ 8:38 pm
[...] Income Inequality and Recession « The Washington Independent [...]
Pingback posted September 18, 2010 @ 3:41 am
[...] Income Inequality and Recession « The Washington Independent [...]
Pingback posted September 18, 2010 @ 4:54 pm
[...] Income Inequality and Recession « The Washington Independent [...]
Pingback posted September 18, 2010 @ 5:09 pm
[...] Income Inequality and Recession « The Washington Independent [...]
Pingback posted September 18, 2010 @ 11:56 pm
[...] Income Inequality and Recession « The Washington Independent [...]
Pingback posted September 19, 2010 @ 8:55 am
[...] Income Inequality and Recession « The Washington Independent [...]
Comment posted September 20, 2010 @ 3:50 pm
Welcome to http://www.ol-market.com! Wholesale from China.
Stock directly from the manufacturer,Original Package,Quality assurance,
Cheap price & good quality, 7 days Delivery as usual,100% Satisfaction.
Wholesale from china?
online market share?
Gucci Men shoulder bags made by Gucci waterproof fabric in wholesale, just$105?
so hot evening dress that made by satin just $162?
Pingback posted September 20, 2010 @ 6:18 pm
[...] Income Inequality and Recession « The Washington Independent [...]
Pingback posted September 24, 2010 @ 3:54 pm
[...] Income Inequality and Recession « The Washington Independent [...]
Trackback posted September 26, 2010 @ 1:11 pm
Americans Vastly Underestimate Wealth Inequality, Support ‘More Equal Distribution Of Wealth’: Study…
I found your entry interesting thus I’ve added a Trackback to it on my weblog :)…
Pingback posted October 11, 2010 @ 10:58 am
[...] Income Inequality and Recession « The Washington Independent [...]
Comment posted May 17, 2011 @ 8:27 am
Nice post.Thank you for taking the time to publish this information very useful!
Christian Louboutin Heels |
Louboutin Sale |
Christian Louboutin Sale |
Louboutin Flats |
Louboutin Pumps |
Louboutin Sandals |
Louboutin Slingbacks |
Jimmy Choo |
Yves Saint Laurent |
Manolo Blahnik |
Tory Burch
Comment posted May 17, 2011 @ 8:27 am
Nice post.Thank you for taking the time to publish this information very useful!
Christian Louboutin Heels |
Louboutin Sale |
Christian Louboutin Sale |
Louboutin Flats |
Louboutin Pumps |
Louboutin Sandals |
Louboutin Slingbacks |
Jimmy Choo |
Yves Saint Laurent |
Manolo Blahnik |
Tory Burch
Trackback posted August 26, 2011 @ 2:22 am
bradley garment bag…
[...]while the sites we link to below are completely unrelated to ours, we think they are worth a read, so have a look[...]…
Trackback posted August 26, 2011 @ 7:17 pm
wizardswaverly place edible…
[...]below you’ll find the link to some sites that we think you should visit[...]…
Trackback posted August 29, 2011 @ 10:36 am
Cheap Kasper Suits…
[...]here are a few links to web sites which we link to since we think they are worthwhile visiting[...]…
Trackback posted August 31, 2011 @ 9:55 am
Icann…
[...]right here are a few web page links to webpages we link to because we feel these are really worth visiting[...]…
Trackback posted August 31, 2011 @ 4:56 pm
Amy Winehouse…
[...]following are several links to internet websites I always link to seeing that we feel they really are worthy of checking out[...]…
Trackback posted September 5, 2011 @ 3:06 am
free online strategy war games…
[...]Use of such emphatic words in this article shows an intense excitement in what this guy is trying to convey. Although unrelated to my blog, worth linking to[...]…
Trackback posted September 6, 2011 @ 2:30 am
Fast Snoring Cures…
[...]free backed back links that have up to now related to due to cost-free advertising and marketing[...]…
Trackback posted September 6, 2011 @ 11:30 am
Eliminate sweat…
[...]I have accumulated some of the more important blogs in my list here[...]…
RSS feed for comments on this post.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
