We keep on being told that the current crisis should not lead to a paradigm change, because, while it lasted, the financial services-led growth led to unprecedented prosperity for all.
Can we please kill once and for all that myth? As the most recent census numbers show, real median household incomes have been stagnant over the past 10 years. Either the prosperity did not exist, or it was not shared. Either way, the vast majority of people never saw it.
It's going to take some time to get the numbers showing how bad the bust is for everybody, but given that there was no income progress during the boom years, it is exceedingly unlikely that it's going to looking like anything but a bloodbath. But hey, as we're told by Serious People, crises are inevitable, so the focus of policy-makers should to ensure that booms do happen...