How to get out of this situation? Economists are starting to project as much as a decade of sub-standard growth (and the recently released Consumer Price Index, which shows continued low inflation, thank goodnesss, is also accompanied by central bank and IMF projections for growth at about one percentage less than usual for some time to come). What we need is some serious innovation, and some good ideas about how to take the un- and under-employed and find useful things for them to do. Anything that gets people busier and boosts overall productivity is good for adding to the bottom line and for creation confidence and optimism necessary for hiring to pick up.

But gosh, things do appear as if we’ll be stuck in the middle until my retirement age rolls around. That can’t be good!