Robert Reich - Is a double dip recession on the way?

It might as well be even if the numbers don't show it. He argues that GPD normally spikes considerably after a deep recession or worse because it had fallen so far. That's not happening now. At best GDP will be in the high 2% range this year. Reich argues that at this point in a recovery it should be somewhere between 4-6%.

Why aren't Americans being told the truth about the economy? We're heading in the direction of a double dip -- but you'd never know it if you listened to the upbeat messages coming out of Wall Street and Washington.

Consumers are 70 percent of the American economy, and consumer confidence is plummeting. It's weaker today on average than at the lowest point of the Great Recession.

Consumer confidence is plunging but CEO confidence is higher than it's been since 2002. There are two Americas and 95% of the country inhabits the one that isn't confident.

Hourly wages are dropping as are housing prices while gas and food prices have been soaring These are not good signs. The White House doesn't want to sound an alarm and the republicans just want to cut, cut and cut,

Washington, meanwhile, doesn't want to sound the economic alarm. The White House and most Democrats want Americans to believe the economy is on an upswing.

Republicans, for their part, worry that if they tell it like it is Americans will want government to do more rather than less. They'd rather not talk about jobs and wages, and put the focus instead on deficit reduction (or spread the lie that by reducing the deficit we'll get more jobs and higher wages).