Recessions Caused by Income Gap

If there isn’t a big enough middle class, it hurts EVERYBODY (NOTE: Subscribers can still listen to this show), because historically, times like this have led to recessions and even depressions. This is because middle class consumers are our biggest spenders–not the rich–and they keep the economy going, creating jobs.

In the January 20th edition of the New York Times, Joseph E. Stiglitz writes: "Inequality at its highest level since before the Depression, (meaning that) a robust recovery will be difficult in the short term, and the American dream–a good life in exchange for hard work–is slowly dying. A fifth of our kids live in poverty–an aberration among rich nations."

"While the top 1% of income earners took home 93% percent of the growth in incomes in 2010, the households in the middle–who are most likely to spend their incomes rather than save them and who are, in a sense, the true job creators–have lower household incomes, adjusted for inflation, than they did in 1996. (This) means that they are unable to invest in their future, by educating themselves and their children and by starting or improving businesses.

"Obama bailed out banks but didn’t invest enough in workers and students. Instead of pouring money into the banks, we could have tried rebuilding the economy from the bottom up. We could have enabled homeowners who were ‘underwater’–those who owe more money on their homes than the homes are worth–to get a fresh start, by writing down principal, in exchange for giving banks a share of the gains if and when home prices recovered.

"Though inequality did not directly cause the (current) crisis, it is no coincidence that the 1920s–the last time inequality of income and wealth in the United States was so high– ended with the Great Crash and the Depression."

There’s ANOTHER kind of gap besides the income gap, and THAT’S the gap between people who have been "Visited" and those who haven’t. If you want to know what it’s like to be a "contactee" (or compare other peoples’ experiences with you own), then subscribe today so you can listen to Anne Strieber’s 23 wonderful interviews with these fascinating folks.