Worst Recession Recovery Since WW II

As I have said before, the recession is over for the rich and the corporations. The rich are making record incomes and the corporations are making record profits -- both quickly bouncing back from the recession and back on track. But the same cannot be said for the rest of America. For Main Street, the median income continues to fall while the middle class shrinks and the ranks of the poor keep growing.

The chart above, from the Pew Research Center, shows this failure of the economy in general to recover from the last recession. Since World War II, it has normally taken less than a year to recover all of the jobs lost in a recession. That was true until the recession of 1990-91, when it took 21 months to recover all the jobs lost. But even that pales in comparison to the current "recovery". It has been 42 months now (twice the recovery period of 1990-91) and still, all the jobs lost in the recession started in 2008 have not been recovered -- and it could be quite a while longer before they are all recovered.

One might conclude this is because the 2008 recession was much more serious than other recessions since World War II. That might be part of the reason, but it doesn't account for all of the current shortcomings. If that was the only reason, then the rich and the corporations should also be having trouble recovering.

The biggest reason for the failure of most Americans to participate in the recovery is the economic policy put in place and maintained by the Republicans -- the "trickle-down" policy which tilted the economic playing field to favor the rich (and corporations) to the detriment of all other Americans. This could have been fixed (as it was after the Great Depression -- also caused by policies favoring the rich), but it wasn't. And the reason it wasn't fixed is because the Republicans have been able to block all efforts to create jobs and a more equitable economic system, clinging instead to their failed "trickle-down" policies.

This can be changed, but not until the Republicans are voted out of power. That's because, unlike previous recessions, they refuse to compromise for the good of the country. They have made it clear that they intend to continue to punish the poor, working class, and middle class, so they can keep favoring the rich and the corporations (their only real constituencies).