Not claiming I have a panacea here, but wouldn't either a more aggressive minimum wage or a basic minimum income raise the ability for more people to act on the desire to buy? I assure you the demand for tons of stuff exists, but the means to buy it does not.
Back in 2013, HuffPost ran an article pointing out that had minimum wage kept up with inflation, it would be $10.50/hr and actually more like $21 if it had kept up with productivity growth [0]. That, of course, assumes that the original minimum wage rate was set reasonably, but I can promise you that few people, save some well-educated counter-cutlurists, can live on $7.50/hr these days. And even if they could, they wouldn't really be spurring demand in the greater economy.
Back in 2013, HuffPost ran an article pointing out that had minimum wage kept up with inflation, it would be $10.50/hr and actually more like $21 if it had kept up with productivity growth [0]. That, of course, assumes that the original minimum wage rate was set reasonably, but I can promise you that few people, save some well-educated counter-cutlurists, can live on $7.50/hr these days. And even if they could, they wouldn't really be spurring demand in the greater economy.
[0] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/13/minimum-wage-produc...