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1-Page Summary of End This Depression Now

Amid the Ruins

The US recession that started in December 2007 ended officially in June 2009. However, unemployment rates are still high and millions of people have been out of work for a long time. They’ve lost their savings, skills and marketability. The United States has less social safety net than most countries so it’s harder to get back on your feet after being unemployed for a while.

There are many people who want jobs, but there aren’t enough jobs for them. There is a disproportionate number of job applicants and not enough positions available to satisfy the demand. This has led to problems with job seekers not being able to find work, as well as young adults moving back in with their parents because they can’t afford living on their own. It’s also caused some cynicism due to people believing that those without jobs don’t want them and just want handouts from the government instead. In October 2011, McDonald’s workers mocked anti-inequality demonstrators by throwing applications at them during a protest; this shows how much interest there is in working at McDonald’s despite its reputation for low pay and poor conditions.

Unemployment hurts the economy and damages individuals. It also has political consequences, putting more people at risk for extremism. That’s because long-term unemployment destroys a person’s ability to live up to his or her potential in America’s workforce through lack of exposure to the necessary tools that would improve one’s marketability in today’s competitive job environment

“It’s All About Demand”

Government leaders have the power to get the economy back on track. They can increase spending and spur job growth, as well as relieve misery by providing social benefits, state aid, public projects and other things that will create jobs for Americans.

Those who oppose more government spending claim that the country is like a family that has to practice austerity and save money. However, this is not true because an economy is not like a family. A family may decide to stop spending in order to balance their budget but if everyone does this in an economy, no one will earn any income. The Federal Reserve injects cash into the system by tripling the monetary base since 2008; however, it doesn’t work because we are in a liquidity trap where interest rates near zero do not affect the economy as they would normally do.

“The Big Lie”

There are many reasons for the 2008 financial crisis. One view says that government was to blame because it forced lenders to give loans to unqualified borrowers through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. This caused a housing bubble which eventually burst, bringing down the economy with it. However, there were other causes of this crisis as well, including private sector lending and offshore entities that lent money on short-term bases.

However, the Big Lie persists because it’s politically inconvenient to admit that deregulating financial operations and elevating wealth above other values led to the near collapse of the US financial system in 2008. In fact, growth after free market policies were implemented was not as robust as expansion after World War II, when a booming middle class ignited “extraordinary growth.”

While the middle class and poor saw little growth from 1979 to 2007, the super rich did. The top 1 percent of earners had a 277.5% increase in income, while mid-level earners had about a 30% increase in income and lower-income brackets only saw an 18% increase in income over that period of time. Economists can’t measure what those values are so they don’t know why this happened.