Reich: What's Really Wrong With the Economy

NEW YORK (MainStreet) -- Ever since the economy first took a nosedive in late 2007, many Americans have been trying to wrap their heads around complex financial subjects ranging from mortgage-backed securities to debt defaults to understand why the economy remains in the gutter. But according to one former cabinet official, the answer to these questions may be much more basic.

Robert Reich, the former labor secretary under President Bill Clinton and a professor at the University of California at Berkeley, recently recorded a video in which he illustrates the major problems facing the U.S. economy today in about two minutes.



Robert Bernard Reich  born June 24, 1946) is an American political economist, professor, author, and political commentator. He served in three national administrations, including that of Presidents Ford, Carter, and as Secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton, from 1993 to 1997.

Reich is currently Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley. He was formerly a professor at Harvard University's School of Government and professor of "Social and Economic Policy" at Brandeis University. He has also been a contributing editor of The New Republic, The American Prospect (also chairman and founding editor,) Harvard Business Review, The Atlantic, New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal.
Reich is a political commentator on programs including Hardball with Chris Matthews, This Week with George Stephanopoulos, CNBC's Kudlow & Company, and APM's Marketplace. In 2008, Time Magazine named him one of the Ten Best Cabinet Members of the century, and The Wall Street Journal in 2008 placed him sixth on its list of the "Most Influential Business Thinkers". He was appointed a member of President-elect Barack Obama's economic transition advisory board./Wikipedia
He has published 13 books, including the best-sellers, The Work of Nations, Reason, Supercapitalism, and, most recently, Aftershock: The Next Economy and America's Future. He is also chairman of Common Cause and writes his own blog about the political economy at robertreich.org.