sadly, a major infrastructure bill seems beyond us.
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Not last time. The vaunted Obama “recovery” was great for the top 5%, but did very little for those in the bottom 95%. Under Obama, the wealthiest Americans became much wealthier while the bottom 95% did not recover to their pre-recession household wealth. The numbers don’t lie.
No wonder Wall Street paid-off Obama with $400,000 per speech after he left office.
Hopefully someone like Elizabeth Warren will actually work to fix this with fair tax policies that start to address wealth inequality.
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You and Nemo are 100% correct. This message needs to get out early and often. Obama won his first term, in part, because the economy was in free fall and a majority of voters did not trust the guys who tanked it with saving it. When people are uncertain they vote their wallets, when reasonably comfortable many of these voters vote their resentments.
Trump, with the trade wars, is hurting his base. Dems should be able to make that case simply and effectively.
Nouriel Roubini has made a similar argument as the original post. It is available at Project Syndicate, a good short read.
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America needs a much better social safety net. If people stop voting against their own interests for corporatist candidates, we can have nice things. When Trump rails against “socialism” Dems ought to take the opportunity to explain all of the ways democratic socialism makes capitalism possible.
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Not ready on purpose, one might add.
The Con Men on Wall Street and Top 1% have gotten all they wanted from Trump and the Republicans. They have taken their profits and run off to various tax havens to shelter them from the next crash.
The only ones betting on Wall Street these days are computers programmed to disguise how little equity is still left there to actually trade. Conservatives no longer know how to create new capital.
They have taken to socializing their losses through more tax cuts, buying back their own stock and utilizing tax incentives to seize the assets of those who are still capable of creating new sweat equity. When the bottom falls out of this long running bull market, people are going to be amazed at how little there was left there to lose.
“Take the money and run” is not just a saying. It’s the corrupt Conservative Movement’s way of life.
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But I doubt anyone would believe them. Look at Bernie, Warren and AOC. They are being ridiculed in the press and treated like they have two heads for telling the truth about monopolizes and collective bargaining. The conservative propagandists have been plugging away for decades redefining terms like liberal and capitalism without Democratic leaders hardly acting bothered by it.
You reap what you sow. But then you learn from your mistakes and go on the offensive.
Underemployed Americans are growing by leaps and bounds as the middle class wages disappears. These workers are ready to listen to someone else and try something new. Little do the Reagan devotees know that everything old and Democratic can now be offered as new and very appealing to the masses. There are more than ready.
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Kennedy and Johnson did the impossible, they reduced wealth disparity.
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We’re Less Prepared For The Next Recession Than We Were For The Last
We’re less prepared for most things than we were 2-1/2 years ago, unfortunately,
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Sort of like using controlled burns to try to forestall mammoth wildfires, no? And Trump is always criticizing California for not doing enough along that line.
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Translation: We’re f*cked!
Never been a more important time to live in a blue state that takes the safety net serious.
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“…The next deliberately caused cyclical recession will finally break the middle-class completely…”
I had the essentially same thought while watching Chris Matthews and his “town hall” meeting with the “deciders” in OH.
The Trump voters just parroted Fox and GOP clichés; almost no one mentioned the Trump admin corruption.
Most of the persons there are hanging on by their fingernails. All I could say is poor, dumb bastards.
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Hey, we’re raking as fast as we can!!!
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And, of course, the Joe Biden Bankruptcy Bill makes it less likely that American workers can recover from any downturn. Thanks Joe and the big banks you rode in on.
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The Press is owned by the elites that have benefited so greatly and who are convinced they need to let the rest of us starve to death while they live it up in gated communities. You can’t expect the Press to tell the truth about the positions taken Bernie, Warren and AOC. Watch MSNBC, they are doing all they can to ignore Warren and promote Biden.
This blue stater is already there. I have sympathy for democrats in these states, but not enough to overcome the FU to the ones who voluntarily do that to themselves. Its not right, and Id have never thought that way 3 years ago… but, here we are.
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There are ready fixes available.
I’m thinking this is only true if there aren’t GOP majorities blocking them.
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Even though it’s true, it isn’t nice. I suspect like you, I’m over that! 
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Unemployment fees, at least here in NY and in MD (states I run businesses in) are based on payroll, not ‘head count’. So is compensation insurance (as well as the role/occupation of each employee) and I’m fairly confident that most if not all other states are essentially the same.
Not sure where you got ‘head count’ from…
Citations please, because you’re full of shit
It IS difficult to hire qualified workers, ESPECIALLY in the trades. This isn’t only because of full employment or reduced immigration, it’s because our education system is being caused to fail the American people.
Why is this? Simply put, FAR too many voters are asleep 
In that one way, Trump is good for us (was Susan Sarandon right on this?), he has stimulated the electorate to do something.
We will find out in just over 16 months from now if it’s enough to save our republic…