Hasn't this period been historically referred to as The Lost Decade? That period after a deleveraging takes place (like during the 1930s), it takes about 10 years to reach prosperity again.
The cause of what you are observing here and discussing is a lack of investment in real assets. The jobs that are disappearing are the jobs that derive from the creation and maintenance of real assets. Real assets generate future income streams. The current problem is a result of a failure, worldwide, to sustain fiscal conditions where risk takers and innovators are encouraged to create and improve assets that have future income streams, income streams that can be possessed after tax. The fiscal picture makes the idea that these future income streams may not be captured, or that the rights to possess the income might erode, or that the captured income stream would be taken by future taxes so, there is increasing drop off in risk taking, enterprise creation and investment privately. Government borrows and funds onging consumption but the recession continues because private investment continues to decline. Interest rates remain low becuase of a lack of demand for private investment and the jobs created are consumption jobs that pay less and ultimately cannot be sustained if production economics does not revive.
one in five Americans as of 2013 data are on foods stamps http://www.crushthestreet.com/articles/2014-articles/bread-lines-modern-day-food-stamps
I think this all started with our gov't starting to mess with the economy way too much, Nixon had price controls, Carter had no balls-strongest country and we were imprisoned with our people being hostages in Iran, Prime went insane, Reagan comes in and hostages released but Reagan didn't believe much in unions, fired all Air Traffic Controllers...perhaps wages not gone up cause Unions have less power than they had? The division of wealth keeps widening, and after awhile, the very wealthy going to have to pay hugely cause Middle class is becoming lower class. And when interest rates start going up, we be like Argentina.
FED's recently released survey on the "economic well-being" of U.S. households smacks of the truth "31% of non-retired respondents reported having no retirement savings or pension, including 19% of those ages 55 to 64 "The Great Recession pushed back the planned date of retirement for two-fifths of those ages 45 and over who had not yet retired... "Among those aged 55 to 64 who had not yet retired, only 18% plan to follow the traditional retirement model of working full time until a set date and then stop working altogether, while 24% expected to keep working as long as possible, 18% expected to retire and then work a part-time job, and 9% expected to retire and then become self-employed." Grim stats IMO
Besides the bull market in Food Stamps there is also the accelerating bullmarket in "angles to Disability" - the latter being an observation each time I return stateside.
zerohedge @zerohedge 3m In August the number of people not in the labor force increased by almost double the number of people who found jobs.