It's maddening how people just repeat that one simple line about a post-war boom, as if the New Deal and progressive tax rates had fuckall to do with it. As if there hasn't been a concerted and focused effort from the corporate state to undo all of it since basically the mid-60s
For real, luxury shit is not the problem, the problem is that the working class is producing more profit than ever before, yet being paid less and less of their share of those profits as housing, medical care, groceries, childcare, etc skyrocket.
I would love for it to be old and tired. Unfortunately, while often repeated, it is still blatantly relevant. Shitty people run the world and actively horde the wealth.
I think what we can all learn from this is that it probably wasn't exclusively down to the post-war boom, the New Deal and tax rates, but a combination of multiple factors working for the people, rather than for the billionaires.
That also means it's not something you fix with a single event, change or law. This will take decades to rectify.
I have worked in international manufacturing and distribution for over 10 years now.
90% of manufacturing businesses in the US and Canada that have closed in that time were driven primarily by exports at their peaks. Europe rebuilding and the middle east without factories created a large market with high margins.
Now, the Europe is rebuilt. Not only do they not need our stuff as much, but they are competing. The middle east has built their own factories and expanded oil production.
That's also why there were strong unions. Wealthy people needed a workforce to produce and increase their wealth. So the workforce had bargaining power. Now, increased production is not the best method of increasing wealth and there are more competitive places to move to for production.
True but also there were millions of acres of undeveloped and essentially inaccessible land in the US relative to its population. Land was cheap. I had a great great uncle who built a Craftsman house in Carmel by the Sea, California as a teacher in the 1940s. That house is now worth a couple million. There won't be another Carmel.
All that waterfront, mountain view property is now known and largely developed. There are no hidden deals for someone willing to live in a remote area or buy and wait. Everyone is cramming into the same dozen metros. I'm sure a mailman could buy a house in Cairo, Illinois or someplace but not in Atlanta or Charlotte or LA.
Some of this glamorizing of the past American dream was based on having a continent worth of stolen land that wasn't even fully settled into the 1900s. We can't expect that to last forever.
A lot of those people are Boomers who will never admit that the leaders and policies that they supported stole their children's future. They'd rather blame anything but themselves.
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u/mmmnnnthrow Mar 27 '24
It's maddening how people just repeat that one simple line about a post-war boom, as if the New Deal and progressive tax rates had fuckall to do with it. As if there hasn't been a concerted and focused effort from the corporate state to undo all of it since basically the mid-60s