A Real Class War May Be On Its Way.

washingtonpost.com — Suppose the growth of the U.S. economy slows to a trickle. I don’t mean in the next quarter or next year or even over the next decade. I mean from this time forth. That’s the prediction of Northwestern University economist Robert Gordon in a new paper that’s become the subject of widespread commentary. If Gordon is right — and he makes a plausible, if arguable, case — then the very essence of American exceptionalism will be undone. The United States is the world’s only nation whose lifespan is coterminous with the Industrial Revolution: We were born when growth was born and have long considered it our birthright. More than any other country, we have depended on growth to ease our economic conflicts. America without growth will perforce be a different nation, in which class conflict will be more open, enduring — and necessary.

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