Alan Blinder assesses the economic situation in today's Wall Street Journal , and the news ain't good: When it comes to wages, the basic story of recent decades is redolent of Scrooge. Real average hourly earnings (excluding fringe benefits) now stand roughly at 1974 levels. Yes, that's right, no real increase in over 35 years. That is an astounding, dismaying and profoundly ahistorical development. The American story for two centuries was one of real wages advancing more or less in line with productivity. But not lately. Since 1978, productivity in the nonfarm business sector is up 86%, but real compensation per hour (which includes fringe benefits) is up just 37%. Does that seem fair? No, it doesn't, and there's a lot of similar bad news in the piece. That's why, for all the value of Tyler Cowen's recent article on inequality , which traces out some serious problems in the financial sector, I was slightly offended that he chose to use himself, a university professor with best-...