Working Poor May Signify A Broken Economic System

In some ways Mitt Romney had it right when he said that 47 percent of Americans are dependent on the government, writes New York Times columnist Eduardo Porter, but what Romney didn’t get is the alarming situation this number points to: It’s possible in the current economy to work full time, and even two jobs, and still come up way short on paying for the basics. More and more people are finding themselves doing just that, not just in the United States but in the developed nations in general. Porter taps a number of economists for their take on the problem, what it says about the economic system, and what some of the options are for addressing it.