Wealthy Americans Who Benefit Hugely From A

In Short, It's A Great Economy If You're A High-level Corporate Executive Or Someone Who Owns A Lot Of Stock. For Most Other Americans, Economic Growth Is A Spectator Sport.

Surely I'm Not The Only Person To Ask The Obvious Question: How Different, Really, Is Mr. Madoff's Tale From The Story Of The Investment Industry As A Whole?

Until The Great Depression, Most Economists Clung To A Vision Of Capitalism As A Perfect Or Nearly Perfect System. That Vision Wasn’t Sustainable In The Face Of Mass Unemployment, But As Memories Of The Depression Faded, Economists Fell Back In Love With The Old, Idealized Vision Of An Economy In Which Rational Individuals Interact In Perfect Markets.

People Respond To Incentives. If Unemployment Becomes More Attractive Because Of The Unemployment Benefit, Some Unemployed Workers May No Longer Try To Find A Job Or May Not Try To Find One As Quickly As They Would Without The Benefit.

A Snarky But Accurate Description Of Monetary Policy Over The Past Five Years Is That The Federal Reserve Successfully Replaced The Technology Bubble With A Housing Bubble