Economists and historians will study the so-called Great Recession for decades to come, but we already know that the deep downturn laid bare the widening income gap between rich and poor in America.



The Census Bureau reported on Sept. 16 that the number of Americans living in poverty hit a 51-year high in 2009, and income disparity has only grown more severe in economic hard times. It's led Robert Reich to conclude the time is now for tough medicine to narrow this gulf.

A labor secretary in the Clinton administration, Reich is a liberal economist at University of California-Berkeley and a prolific economic writer. In a new book, "Aftershock: The Next Economy and America's Future," he argues that income inequality has left America's middle class too unstable financially to fuel demand for goods and services as in the past.



Absent aggressive government policies, he said, the average worker will continue to see wages stay flat or decline and the entire economy will suffer and the small number of rich don't spend enough to make up for the lost income in the middle.



Reich sat down with members of McClatchy's Washington bureau, and here are some of his thoughts, edited into a question and answer format.

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