Bartley is a hard worker, a gentle giant who likes tinkering with engines with his dad and fixing appliances for neighbors in need. But the Great Recession didn’t just purge rottenness from the system. Bartley’s wife’s veterinary business failed, because her clients couldn’t afford pet care, and then the battery company where Bartley was working failed, because consumers couldn’t afford much of anything. He blasted out hundreds of résumés; not only didn’t he get a job, he didn’t get a single response. He didn’t even send out Christmas cards, because he couldn’t think of anything cheery to say. But in April 2010, Bartley landed a quality-control job with UQM Technologies, which was tripling its workforce after winning a stimulus grant to build motors for electric vehicles. Three weeks later, Bartley was introducing Biden at a Recovery Act event at UQM’s new factory, wearing one of those crazy-loud ties that guys who never wear ties wear, explaining how happy he was to give his teenage daughter some security.373 “We’ll be putting stamps on our Christmas cards this weekend,”
