Through volatility and turmoil, the gap widens

The Great Recession officially lasted from December 2007 through June 2009—the longest span of recession since the Great Depression. The recovery since then has proceeded on two tracks: one for typical families and workers, who continue to struggle against high rates of unemployment and continued foreclosures, and another track for the investor class and the wealthy, who have enjoyed significant gains in the stock market and benefited from record corporate profits. The Main Street–Wall Street divide remains as big as ever in the aftermath. A research brief released by the Economic Policy Institute takes a historical view of wealth and its components, and places a special emphasis on the bursting of the housing bubble, which thus far has resulted in $6 trillion of lost wealth; an additional $2 trillion is expected.

[Read the full report published March 23, 2011 by the Economic Policy Institute.]