From Quartz, after 150 years, the American productivity miracle is over: Matt Phillips interviews Robert Gordon, author of The Rise and Fall of American Growth: The U.S. Standard of Living Since the Civil War. Today’s richest Americans may soon blow past the tycoons of the Roaring Twenties — Lance Taylor explains why, and what to do about it. Was the New Deal a fluke? Scott Reynolds Nelson reviews The Great Exception: The New Deal and the Limits of American Politics by Jefferson Cowie (and more and more). John Sides interviews Christopher G. Faricy, author of Welfare for the Wealthy: Parties, Social Spending, and Inequality in the United States. Make elites compete: Jonathan Rothwell on why the 1% earn so much and what to do about it. Hamilton Nolan on the pulling-apart of America. Still think America is the “land of opportunity”? Look at this chart.
From Demos, Matt Bruenig on how family poverty works; and on how the evidence clearly shows that deep poverty has worsened. Soo Oh on how low-income Americans can no longer afford rent, food, and transportation. David Dayen on why the poor get trapped in depressed areas. Who are the “legitimate” poor? Stephanie Land investigates. It pays to work: Isaac Shapiro, Robert Greenstein, Danilo Trisi, and Bryann DaSilva on work incentives and the safety net. Dean Baker on how to fight poverty through full employment. A Bernie-ist manifesto for the jobless future: Malcolm Harris reviews People Get Ready: The Fight Against a Jobless Economy and a Citizenless Democracy by Robert W. McChesney and John Nichols. The U.S. could use a new economic strategy: Justin Fox reviews Concrete Economics: The Hamilton Approach to Economic Growth and Policy by Stephen S. Cohen and J. Bradford DeLong (and more and more).
