For example, Americans used to move a lot to seize opportunities and transform their lives. But the rate of Americans who are migrating across state lines has plummeted by 51 percent from the levels of the 1950s and 1960s.

It's almost as if Republicans have been pushing homeownership as if it were some sort of investment rather than a potential anchor to hang around your neck when you need to move to where the work is.

Americans used to be entrepreneurial, but there has been a decline in start-ups as a share of all business activity over the last generation.

It's almost as if the credit crackdown against small businesses and bankruptcies had an impact on the availability of credit.

Americans tell themselves the old job-for-life model is over. But in fact Americans are switching jobs less than a generation ago, not more. The job reallocation rate — which measures employment turnover — is down by more than a quarter since 1990.

It's almost as if people recognize that the steady paycheck they enjoy is in constant peril and jeopardy. Hey, David - know any statistics like that?

For every one American man aged 25 to 55 looking for work, there are three who have dropped out of the labor force. If Americans were working at the same rates they were when this century started, over 10 million more people would have jobs.

Thanks, bud!