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If the left doesn't come up with a credible and comprehensive alternative to a focus on reducing the deficit, argues FPIF columnist Walden Bello, the far right might eventually fill the policy vacuum.

The U.S. economy continues to stagnate. It's growing at the rate of 1.8 percent, which is barely growing at all. Consumer spending is down. Home prices are down. Jobs and wages are going nowhere. It's vital that we understand the truth about the American economy. How did we go from the Great Depression to 30 years of Great Prosperity? And from there, to 30 years of stagnant incomes and widening inequality, culminating in the Great Recession? And from the Great Recession into such an anemic recovery?

Trickledown was a lovely theory . The fact it didn't work was never a deterrent to our politicians who have allowed themselves to be guided by it for decades. To be fair, its failure was always disguised behind a huge bubble of debt (both public and private) which is now deflating to reveal the tangled mess of inequality , social dysfunction and economic stagnation hidden behind. With vast sums of money being sucked relentlessly upwards it is not surprising that we have a squeezed middle and that others talk of growth without gain for large sections of the population. It also appears that the winners in our economic casino are now shirking the one responsibility that trickledown demanded of them - to invest. Some even talk of a strike by Europe's investor class . Meanwhile conspicuous consumption continues unabated so we at least have some clues as to where the money is going.