Suspect that very-sharp @jimtankersley at #uoeconforum is as hungover as you can get on beer… @TimDuy- #uoeconforum the barely-hung-over at all @jimtankersley from @Wonkblog on “The Middle Class and the Great Recession” cc: @TimDuy
- #uoeconforum @jimtankersley: nice to see you can run an economy on artisanal donuts and yoga
- #uoeconforum @jimtankersley: not a happy talk: what’s going on w/ middle class? Recovery >6 years old doesn’t feel like one for middle class
- #uoeconforum @jimtankersley: when I grew up I watched timber-town go through wrenching transition
- #uoeconforum @jimtankersley: at the Oregonian learned power of human stories as windows into policy problems
- #uoeconforum @jimtankersley: college in DC, Portland, Denver, DC. At the @wapo my job at @Wonkblog is to tell stories about people that
- #uoeconforum @jimtankersley: shed light on how the economy works. Bob. Local California historian. Worked in mfg in Downey, CA @ Apollo 11.
- #uoeconforum @jimtankersley: space-age factory closed. Downey still looking for its new rocket to the middle class. They are not coming back
- #uoeconforum @jimtankersley: median wages are still lower than in 2009. “Growing together” stopped 25 years ago. Labor share down
- #uoeconforum @jimtankersley: in 81% of counties, median income lower than in 2000. Bob retired in 2005, making $25/hr, good pension
- #uoeconforum @jimtankersley: when Rockwell won Space Shuttle contract, 24-hour party thrown by Rockwell. 200K aerospace wkrs in LA County
- #uoeconforum @jimtankersley: median income in Downey collapsed by 20% with end of Cold War. Downey lost 100K sq ft of work & 20K jobs
- #uoeconforum @jimtankersley: *Before* 2008 the decade of the 2000s looked to be worst job creation decade ever.
- #uoeconforum @jimtankersley: Ed Greene in Carolina—road crew/ballpark janitor—employee of the year. Once held middle-class job. Now 2 LC
- #uoeconforum @jimtankersley: jobs lost have been easily outsourced, mechanized—overwhelmingly middle-skill jobs “hollowing out”
- #uoeconforum @jimtankersley: abandoned union New York bus-driving job to care for mother with cancer. “If I can’t make what I need hourly…”
- #uoeconforum @jimtankersley: Ed and wife work 110 hrs/week to make a middle-class income of 25 years ago. Expects to retire 14 yrs @ 68
- #uoeconforum @jimtankersley: declining mobility. Raj Chetty. Poor students can be easily knocked off course and out of class
- #uoeconforum @jimtankersley: community college completion rates less than one-in-eight
- #uoeconforum @jimtankersley: (1) Wall Street hypertrophy with zero societal utility. (2) Falling startup rate
As seen on
equitablegrowth.org
