A Bloomberg economist says Americans have become lazy, pointing to a slowdown in new startup companies and productivity.
Tyler Cowen's new book says Americans are about as segregated as they were in the 60s, and that has led to a stagnate economy. But others argue it’s really a hangover effect from the "Great Recession."
“Productivity growth, you saw a huge fall off in investment,” says Josh Bivens, research and policy director at the Economic Policy Institute. “Businesses stopped buying tools for the workers because there really weren't enough customers coming through the doors to justify buying a lot more stuff for your workers to work with.”
Bivens says entrepreneurs have been slow to jump back into the game, but that doesn't mean it isn't happening.
“A lot of small business owners in 2006 put up their houses as collateral for starting a small businesses and got burned really badly,” he says. “We still have some slack in the economy, we still need to boost demand a little bit and get couple more customers coming through the door.”
“That line showing new business formation, it falls off a cliff when the 'Great Recession' starts, but it has started to recover sign. That's not a lazy worker story, that's an economy caught fire story.”
Bivens says with large corporate downsizing, those who were left are now working harder than ever.