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America’s economic Crash of 2008 was directed almost universally at Wall Street. In his September release, entitled, Aftershock: The Next Economy And America’s Future, Robert B. Reich argues differently. He believes the real problem is structural: There’s an increasing concentration of wealth at the top, while middle class Americans struggle to maintain a decent standard of living. Top88 Reich served in three national administrations, most recently as Secretary of Labor under President Clinton. He’s written numerous books, and is a university professor of public policy.

Three stages of modern American capitalism substantiate Reich’s message. The first stage (1870-1929) was one of increasing concentration of income and wealth. Stage two (1947-1975), featured more broadly shared prosperity; and stage three (1980-2010) is one of increasing wealth concentration. Reich says it’s vital for our future to begin a fourth stage where broad-based prosperity reigns

Reich profiles Mariner Ecclesia, a business tycoon during the Great Depression. Largely forgotten today, Reich believes Eccle’s analysis of the underlying economic stresses of the Great Depression are relevant to the Crash of 2008. His assumption of a quick national recovery proved wrong, as we know today. President Roosevelt summoned him to Washington DC to share his financial acumen which was based on logic and experience.

Eccles chaired the Federal Reserve Board from 1934 to 1948 (the Eccles Building on Constitution Avenue in Washington DC is his memoriam). History repeats itself today, as there’s a vast accumulation of income among the nation’s wealthiest people. The result is everyone else experiences reduced purchasing power.

Though the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) has yet to classify the current economic slump as a “recession,” most commentators would agree that the economy is heading in that direction. Martin Feldstein, Professor of Economics at Harvard University, recently noted that, “we have been sliding into recession [and]…I think it could go on longer than the last two recessions (which) lasted eight months peak to trough. Donatetonhs

With a presidential election knocking on our door, coupled with Professor Feldstein’s grim outlook for America’s economy, it is important to analyze our recent economic and political history, specifically with regards to recession, in order to match any correlations from the past with the present. Such an analysis may offer clues as to whether or not we are currently in an economic recession and provide direction for our current and future political. Koshokempo

This article does not intend to be a comprehensive exploration of America’s economic and political history; such an analysis is beyond its scope. It does intend however to make certain connections between the U.S. economic recessions of past 30 years and draw some conclusions about where America’s economy and politics may be heading. Officially there have been four U.S. recessions in the last 30 years – each with distinct economic and political ramifications. Ekoakcija This article details give a brief overview of the recession of the early 1980s. Three subsequent articles will provide the same level of respective analysis for the recessions in the late 1980s, the 1990s and at the beginning of the 21st century, with a fifth and final article detailing any correlations with the current economic recession. Before going further, it is important to provide a working definition of “recession.” Recession has been commonly defined as a decline in a country’s GDP coupled with negative economic growth for two or more successive quarters. Sthughsbanbury

 This definition is tenuous however, as it causes numerous theoretical problems, not least of which is the problem of identifying when a recession begins and when it ends; if a recession begins in the third month of the second quarter, does that mean the entire quarter is in a recessed mode. Bikinijam

 A less troublesome way of thinking about recession is presented by LakshmanAchuthan and Anirvan Banerjee of the Economic Cycle Research Institute. Jaxdivorcelaw

 They state, “A recession is a self reinforcing downturn in economic activity, when a drop in spending leads to cutbacks in production and then jobs, triggering a loss of income that spreads across the country from industry to industry, hurting sales and in turn feeding back into a further drop in production – in effect, a vicious cycle.” This is the definition of recession used here. Techifuture