POLITICIANS AND THE ECONOMY

Believing that most middle-class Americans are only steps from disaster will lead politicians to the wrong policy and political agenda, say Stephen J. Rose, author of the forthcoming, "Mythonomics: Ten Things That You Think You Know About The Middle Class That Are Wrong," and Anne Kim, director of the Middle Class Program at Third Way, a progressive think tank in Washington.

[snip - Re: the current economy and 1929]: "It's not even close" [snip] In 2006, the median income of working-age husband-wife couples (ages 25-59) was $73,765.Eighty percent of Americans over 40 own a home, and it's still the case that relatively few homeowners are at risk of losing their homes over the next several years. Moreover, if the coming recession follows the same pattern of the last seven downturns since 1960, it will be relatively short and shallow.

Politicians should not confuse bad times with pessimism, and should not only offer security instead of success: In 2007 Democracy Corps found that 57 percent of Americans agreed that government makes it harder for people to get ahead in life, and 54 percent thought that government mostly gets in the way of the economy and job growth. I.e., politicians should not assume that economic recessions automatically translate into broad public support for major government interventions.

READ MORE