New normal. People don't necessarily have any more cash than they did before, they're just adjusting to whatver they have now. Moreover, people are also getting used to 10% unemployment, while at the same time beginning numb to their own employment uncertainty. The result, they're starting to live their lives like they did before the economy went south.
Just like France and other parts of Europe in the last two decades, the misery (high unemployment, tighter credit) becomes more tolerable and "normal". So, normal economic behavior returns. It's a new kind of "irrational exuberance".
Good analysis. New normal - "jobs created or saved" - New speak for neo-socialists.
I'm not entirely unconvinced that isn't exactly the point. It's tough to peddle big, sweeping social programs with 4% unemployment. But, like a frog in a pot, 10% unemployment over an extended period of time, dulls the senses. People in a more protracted state of economic vulnerability, become more amenable to government "stuff".
Leftist in the US want something that more closely resembles the European model. So, they need unemployment that mirrors what created the European model in the first place.