Before discussing the surprising and constructive final chapter of Robert Reich’s “After Shock”, it is appropriate to supplement earlier reports on Barry Lynn’s “Cornered”, Tony Judt’s “Ill Fares the Land”, Joseph Stiglitz “Freefall”, David Johnston “Free Lunch”, Martin Jacques “When China Rules the world” with some excerpts from Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson’s “Winner-Take-All Politics.”

President Barack Obama’s speech at the memorial gathering has drawn effusive praise from representatives of both conservate and liberal viewpoints.

A suggestion: Have tissues on hand.

HARRISBURG (Jan. 13) – Almost two years after the federal stimulus program was authorized, Gov. Ed Rendell says the program has had wide-ranging benefits in Pennsylvania.

During a news conference Thursday, Rendell touted the program as helping create and save thousands of jobs, fix miles of roads and bridges, and provide extended unemployment and food stamp benefits to workers.

(1) In 1966 20% of mothers worked but that grew to 55% by the late 1990s;

(2) By the first decade of the current century, the average family put in a full twelve weeks extra work than it did in 1979 and, although he does not cite specific figures, the typical individual put in many more hours than in the past, 350 more hours annually than the typical European workers;

From the PITTSBURGH OBERSVER-REPORTER: …Many in Montgomery County find that hard to believe, and “Breakfastgate” has prompted State Rep. Mike Vereb, R-Norristown, to announce plans to introduce legislation aimed at strengthening the Sunshine Act, even as far as calling for jail time for the most egregious offenders. “If politicians violate the Sunshine law and knowingly deceive the public with some type of vote based on an illegal meeting, then I think they should be incarcerated,” he said.

From the DRUG WAR CHRONICLE: More people were killed in prohibition-related violence in Mexico last year than died in the war in Afghanistan, according to year-end reports from both countries. In Afghanistan, more than 140,000 US and NATO are in the ninth year of a guerrilla war with thousands of Taliban fighters flush with profits from the opium trade…

“Disagrees with Robert Reich on Recession’s cause” is a good summary of the near term events that triggered the Great Depression and the Great Recession. But attributing both the depression and the recession respectively to the failure of the Bank of United States, a local New York City bank that was allowed to fail at a time when other banks were being propped up, and the failure of Lehman Brothers, again at a time when other private investment banks were saved, is to substitute effect for cause.

Reich describes a three decade trend from the late ‘70s to the recently past decade in which household incomes for the middle class did not increase (despite greater female participation in the job market) while the top 1% share of income soared from the 10% during the prosperous post war decades to a high of around 29% in 2007. He points to a similar phenomenon prior to the Great Depression.