Comments on: The Lost Decade for the Middle Class http://jaredbernsteinblog.com/the-lost-decade-for-the-middle-class/ Facts, Thoughts, and Commentary Thu, 23 May 2013 17:30:55 +0000 hourly 1 By: perplexed http://jaredbernsteinblog.com/the-lost-decade-for-the-middle-class/#comment-19819 perplexed Thu, 15 Sep 2011 22:00:26 +0000 http://jaredbernsteinblog.com/?p=2174#comment-19819 Thanks for the quick reply. My own suspicion is that implementing the solutions will be considerably more difficult than finding them. Thanks again for all you do to promote intelligent, ethical discussion of the issues! (& the Friday music interludes – we all desperately need them in these times!)

]]> By: Jared Bernstein http://jaredbernsteinblog.com/the-lost-decade-for-the-middle-class/#comment-19803 Jared Bernstein Thu, 15 Sep 2011 19:55:14 +0000 http://jaredbernsteinblog.com/?p=2174#comment-19803 I thought the diagnosis in their book was excellent but wanted to hear more about solutions.

]]> By: perplexed http://jaredbernsteinblog.com/the-lost-decade-for-the-middle-class/#comment-19797 perplexed Thu, 15 Sep 2011 19:40:20 +0000 http://jaredbernsteinblog.com/?p=2174#comment-19797 Dr. Bernstein, the book “Winner-Take-All Politics” by Jocob Hacker & Paul Pierson seems to provide an amazingly concise articulation of why we are dealing with these dire consequences. Do you have any criticisms of either their methodology or conclusions they draw (or that of the Piketty and Saez studies that they draw from)? Obviously you can’t publish a book length review here, but it would be great to have your input! Would you consider it “generally spot-on” or do you have some problems with the data, their interpretation of it, or the conclusions they draw?

]]> By: Geoffrey Freedman http://jaredbernsteinblog.com/the-lost-decade-for-the-middle-class/#comment-19698 Geoffrey Freedman Thu, 15 Sep 2011 11:19:04 +0000 http://jaredbernsteinblog.com/?p=2174#comment-19698 The real eye opener is the real gain in income for the top 1% (not top 10%). They have not relatively lost less than others, they have actually gained. That what really should raise your eyebrows about our current tax policy.

]]> By: Mukund http://jaredbernsteinblog.com/the-lost-decade-for-the-middle-class/#comment-19650 Mukund Thu, 15 Sep 2011 05:03:47 +0000 http://jaredbernsteinblog.com/?p=2174#comment-19650 The analysis does not paint te entire picture. There are a lot more divorces, and so single adult households now. These numbers will be s depressing as it sounds only if we normalize it to number of people per household.

Btw, I am not a conservative…am a bleeding heart liberal. Just pointing out that this additional layer of data is required.

]]> By: Jim http://jaredbernsteinblog.com/the-lost-decade-for-the-middle-class/#comment-19496 Jim Wed, 14 Sep 2011 15:34:41 +0000 http://jaredbernsteinblog.com/?p=2174#comment-19496 Yet you’re willing to put SS, medicare, and medicaid “on the table”?

]]> By: comma1 http://jaredbernsteinblog.com/the-lost-decade-for-the-middle-class/#comment-19482 comma1 Wed, 14 Sep 2011 14:43:57 +0000 http://jaredbernsteinblog.com/?p=2174#comment-19482 You miss two fundamental game changers: women entering the workforce and the internet. Your graphs don’t make clear that most households added another worker and that the revolutionary technology that is the internet was also added. Not to be a downer, but reality is a lot worse than those graphs suggest.

]]> By: Phillip Wynn http://jaredbernsteinblog.com/the-lost-decade-for-the-middle-class/#comment-19428 Phillip Wynn Wed, 14 Sep 2011 11:14:29 +0000 http://jaredbernsteinblog.com/?p=2174#comment-19428 We should all be thinking of different ways to publicize graphs such as these: T-shirts, notebook covers, graffiti, billboards, sky-writing.

But isn’t part of the problem rampant mathematical illiteracy among the American public? Plus, there’s the text behind the graphs, regarding your “experiment.” As we’ve seen, right-wing propaganda is surprisingly effective in convincing people that black is white.

I wish I knew the answer. We should try everything, including prayer. But one thing is clear: we need larger and stronger unions. No one is going to give the middle class anything: they will have to take it.

]]> By: David http://jaredbernsteinblog.com/the-lost-decade-for-the-middle-class/#comment-19381 David Wed, 14 Sep 2011 07:36:48 +0000 http://jaredbernsteinblog.com/?p=2174#comment-19381 We formed an hypothesis, ran the experiment, observed the outcome, and got a clear result. The fact that the answer was “the hypothesis is false” does not make this a failed experiment. What makes it a failed experiment is that so many people in power have chosen to ignore the result, and continue to act as though the hypothesis were true. Worse, deride those people who assert that it isn’t.

]]> By: perplexed http://jaredbernsteinblog.com/the-lost-decade-for-the-middle-class/#comment-19312 perplexed Wed, 14 Sep 2011 03:26:02 +0000 http://jaredbernsteinblog.com/?p=2174#comment-19312 Thanks for another great post Jared! (Maybe I shouldn’t have used the exclamation point – kind of awkward, feels a little like cheering at a funeral service.)

-”a natural experiment testing an economic hypothesis such as these:…”

Did any of these really rise to level of “economic hypothesis” or were these really more theologically based experiments?

Now that the experiment has been run and 90% of the guinea pigs are considerably worse off than they would have been without it, how do we hold these pseudo-scientists accountable?

Isn’t it about time we find a way to tie the acquisition and maintenance of enormous amounts of wealth and income to the success of our country as whole and not let it continue unimpeded to the detriment of the country? Maybe there wouldn’t be such a rush to move jobs offshore and undermine the government and its bothersome regulations if there were a real cost of doing so.

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