Recessions are great at "spreading the wealth"

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ZDFiZTM5NTEzZDVhOWY2MDU3NTFjYzQ4YWY1OWI4MTI=

[I]f, in the abstract, liberals were given a deal in which economic inequality was reduced from its levels of the 1990s and 2000s, but at the price of 8.5 percent unemployment, wouldn’t they take it? Isn’t that the basic bargain embraced in the European model they so adore? Less wealth, less inequality, less employment — recession-era America already has some of the characteristics of a European social democracy.