In a survey by the center of older workers who were laid off during the recession, just one in six had found another job, and half of that group had accepted pay cuts.

Things must not have been going as planned, because here I was center stage at Burger King in front of an annoyed group eager for a quick affirmative.

Arnold Kling is an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute and a member of the Mercatus Center working group on financial markets.