Prosperity Economics : Building an Economy for All" makes the case for prosperity economics by first making the case against the austerity economics that have been brutalizing working Americans at an increasing rate over the past 40 years. The report, by Jacob Hacker and Nate Loewentheil, makes a set of familiar arguments: income inequality and stagnating social mobility are major problems for the American economy, we need the government to provide public goods because the market will not do so, the way forward is through job creation and public investment. But as is often the case, maybe the strongest, most immediate case is made in images, in a series of graphs showing us how bad things are under the current austerity economics. Take the contrast between rising productivity and stagnant wages, seen above, offering the perfect rebuke to the idea that low wages go to those who deserve them, those who don't produce.

There can be no doubt these patterns are a result of policy choices being made by the U.S. government. You just don't get results like these across categories by accident:



Austerity economics caused these problems; prosperity economics can end them. That means building bridges, public transit, roads, ports, schools. It means upgrading our electrical grid, water systems, waste management. It means a trade policy that creates jobs here rather than the opposite, and eliminating tax benefits for companies that send jobs overseas. It means universal early childhood education and affordable college. It means job training and raising the minimum wage. Again, we know that all of these things would work to revive the American economy and rebuild the middle class. Republicans—and too many Democrats—harangue us about not being able to afford these things. But the way to be able to afford them in the long run is to do them now. To invest in the economy for the future.