Protracted Slowdown

Mike Whitney, a 'progressive' economic observer who writes long, thoughtful, and realistic essays on the state of the economy on the website Counterpunch, concludes in his latest essay:

The US consumer, long considered an inexhaustible resource, is tapped out.
Without job security and access to easy credit; consumer spending will slow,
prices will fall, demand will flag and the economy will tank. There won't be a
recovery, because pre-crisis levels of consumption will not return; that much is
certain. Sustainable growth requires higher wages and longer working hours;
neither of which are likely anytime soon. The economy is headed for a protracted
slowdown with persistent high unemployment and growing social unrest. The future
is deflation.