Fergusonized America

A devastating unsigned editorial in the Gray Lady today. Appearing right below a truly despicable attack on Vladimir Putin in wake of the Ukrainian ceasefire announced yesterday ("A Cease-Fire in Ukraine"), "Jobs Stall and So Does the Economy" tells you everything you need to know about the dire straights of the U.S. homeland six-years after the Lehman Brothers meltdown:

The latest data also underscore how incremental improvements in labor conditions have failed to undo the damage from the recession and the prolonged slow recovery. For example, the share of adults in the labor force is no longer declining, as it did in 2013, but it remains at levels last seen in 1978. 

The recent unemployment rate, 6.1 percent, is down from the recession-era high of 10 percent in 2009, but it is still higher than at similar points in recoveries from other downturns going back to 1982. Worse, the unemployment rate today would be 9.6 percent if it included the estimated 5.9 million jobless people who would be working or looking for work if the job market were stronger. 

The generally bleak monthly data are broadly in line with other data on income and wealth released this week by the Federal Reserve. From 2010 to 2013, the Fed found that average incomes dropped by 8 percent for the bottom 20 percent of families and rose by 10 percent for the most affluent 10 percent. For everyone in between, incomes fell or stagnated. 

Wealth was also skewed. Overall it barely grew from 2010 to 2013. But it fell by 21 percent for the bottom 20 percent of families, to a mere $65,000 of net worth, and rose by 2 percent, to $3.3 million, for the top 10 percent. 

It is increasingly obvious that inequality of income and wealth are weighing on economic growth — especially on job creation and pay raises — by concentrating income and assets in the hands of a few who already have more than they can spend. 

The situation is not self-correcting. In fact, in the absence of government policies to foster balance, it is self-reinforcing. The Fed should continue to try to stimulate the economy with loose monetary policy. But only Congress can put in place the broad new policies on taxes, labor standards and immigration that will give all Americans a shot at a rising standard of living.

And we know, what with Democrats headed for almost-certain losses in both the House and Senate (not that they were any help anyway; they can't even get a vote on raising the minimum wage to the floor of the House), that there is no chance for any sort of stimulative, pro-growth legislation coming out of Congress anytime soon.

Things are going to get worse. We're all Ferguson now. Those armored personnel carriers and assault rifles likely will be used in your town before long as jobs continue to evaporate and misery spreads. The Haves are doing fine, and they'll be sure to protect it.