The era of easy money is over


	The era of easy money is over

JICWyllie

1-2-2008 5:04 PM

239 views

tags:

economy, consumers, i-income, i-decrease, i-debt, i-increase, i-forecast

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/c3a1a511-52d2-4c46-8a45-d77164d3ee69/1C640043-6F8B-48A2-B9DF-687A72E3E2C5/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a7f69da8-b947-11dc-bb66-0000779fd2ac.html" href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a7f69da8-b947-11dc-bb66-0000779fd2ac.html" style="font-size: 11px;">www.ft.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a7f69da8-b947-11dc-bb66-0000779fd2ac.html">middle-class families have exhausted the coping mechanisms they have used for more than three decades to get by on median wages that are barely higher than they were in 1970, adjusted for inflation. Male wages today are in fact lower than they were then; the income of a young man in his 30s is now 12 per cent below that of a man his age three decades ago. Yet for years America’s middle class has lived beyond its pay cheque. Middle-class lifestyles have flourished even though median wages have barely budged.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a7f69da8-b947-11dc-bb66-0000779fd2ac.html">second coping mechanism. The typical American now works two weeks more each year than he or she did 30 years ago.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a7f69da8-b947-11dc-bb66-0000779fd2ac.html">the third coping mechanism. We began to borrow, big time. </blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a7f69da8-b947-11dc-bb66-0000779fd2ac.html">But this can no longer keep us going, either. The era of easy money is over</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a7f69da8-b947-11dc-bb66-0000779fd2ac.html">The anxiety gripping the American middle class is not simply a product of the current economic slowdown. The underlying problem began around 1970.</blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/1C640043-6F8B-48A2-B9DF-687A72E3E2C5/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content6.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>