For example, Stiglitz writes
New York – As spring comes to America, optimists are seeing “green sprouts” of recovery from the financial crisis and recession. The world is far different from what it was last spring, when the Bush administration was once again claiming to see “light at the end of the tunnel.” The metaphors and the administrations have changed, but not, it seems, the optimism.
The good news is that we may be at the end of a free fall. The rate of economic decline has slowed. The bottom may be near – perhaps by the end of the year. But that does not mean that the global economy is set for a robust recovery any time soon. Hitting bottom is no reason to abandon the strong measures that have been taken to revive the global economy.
My belief is that we will get a robust recovery, but only on the financial side, not the wage side. How much this is possible, when consumer demand is lower, I am not sure. But one can imagine half the employable unemployed, and the other half gainful and happy, buying new subsidised cars, redoing their houses, vacation trips, trips to see grandchildren, etc. The banks are happy and even the feds are collecting taxes. But half are left out. People who were either high cost (brokerage house employees) or lorw profit (welfare and sick) are marginalized. The new stability. The new “natural.”
Not a plot, just the way the system evolves – till it breaks.
via Project Syndicate .