The past 60 years harbored the invention and mass production of the three most valued and loved products by men: The remote control, the microwave, and the birth-control pill. There were also lesser useful inventions like the Jet airliners, industrial robots, and communication satellites. Most importantly, however, the computer mouse was invented so we can all make fun of today’s consultants. (We have Douglas Englebart to thank for that.)
As always, the census bureau, taking the role of the party pooper, posted some information about the Annual Change in Mean Family Income from 1950 to 2010, by quintile and the top five percent. There is no mention of the one percent in order to protect their delicate souls and swollen wallets.
Here is the graph, take a look at it, go ahead; it doesn’t bite but I can’t promise you anything less than an instant stroke.
http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/business/Pew_History_Middle…
Things were going swell for the commoners in the 50’s and 60’s but come the 70’s when Nixon dictated we were to be a Keynesian economy, everyone suffered. Even the mustard puke colored five percenters. To make matters worse, the man who has caused me several panic attacks in my sleep, otherwise known as Ronald Reagan, relied heavily on voodoo and was completely sure that his 1981 endearing speech would take the already clusterfuck deep economy to prosperity. He was right. He was indeed very right that the richer you had been, the richer you would become. If you were poor, bitch you done!
Although I am compelled to write hateful and vengeful and profanity laden essays about America’s dumbest Texan, G.W.Bush, I will refrain, because I vowed to remain silent until I get my chance of meeting him in person and show him what my six inch heels feel like in his eye sockets. America’s glitter studded mythical creature and unintelligent alien extraordinaire, Bush, had a plan. The plan was to dig a hole in the ground, stuff the economy in it, cover the hole back, pee on it, poop on it, then get a dinosaur to stomp on it until it is seven layers deep. I have to give him props. It totally worked.
Fortunately, I haven’t lived long enough to have grounds for comparison. I, along with my entire generation of new(ish) work force just know the suffering, we don’t know the prosperity of the 50’s and 60’s, thus, we might be detached from the state of our economy.
The only solution to our suffering is to become the one percent. Or just be Buddhists and abandon life’s pleasures and desires for material possessions. Or rob a bank and seek refuge with a Nigerian prince. Or print money.
P.S: Someone needs to tell the Bureau those 5 shades of green and the shade of second day leftover curry is NOT ok.
P.S.S: The Atlantic has written a piece about this here
Ms. Disincentivy, what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent paragraph were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone on this board is now dumber for having read it. I award you no SB, and may God have mercy on your soul.
Oh there, there. It will be better now. I have just thrown monkey poop at you to help you re-fertilize your dead brain cells. Now you'll be back to uber smartness.
Or is the solution....wait, wait, wait....I got it! VOTE FOR ANOTHER REPUBLICAN!!!!!!! YES! That's the solution! They did this, now it's their job to fix it? Only THEY can do this. #endsarcasm
Seriously: bullets or essay?
But of course feel free to chime in UFO, with all the moderate center-left force you can muster.
Chili, lemon, water and maple syrup based diet. Or conversely, drink a liter of salt water and hold it down.
It doesn't even make any sense at this point to un-poop. I say let's get rid of the middle/lower classes. Or just exile them to very poor countries where they will be considered rich so that the fiver percenters can enjoy more wealth opportunities.
Another option is to vote Republican. Or Democrat, really. Eventually, the fittest will win and the weakest will be poop.
end the fed
Pff I guess prune juice is prestigious... if youre trying to shit your brains out... at Jefferies.
Whole lotta WIN in these two comments...
what the fuck is up with the cussing, chill out OP
OP, I don't know if this was your intent or not, but you didn't say anything of substance in your entire piece.
So the combined efforts of reagan waving his wand followed by bush jr. defecating has had such resonating effects that it explains macroeconomic trends for 60 years?
For future reference, Europe and Japan were covered in heaping piles of rubble and ruin after WWII while the rest of the world was either a backwater shithole (economically speaking) or suffering some communist autocrat. The US, on the contrary, saw it's industrial capacity increase during the war. Following this, billions of dollars in war bonds were repaid back into the private sector economy. Essentially, the US worker had no or little serious competition and was benefiting from a transfer of wealth.
Fast forward to Nixon's Keynesian decree and Europe and Japan had recovered to prewar levels. By the time of dubya, most of the rest of the world had industrialized, a couple billion more people were now part of the global economy, and the skill-less jobs were now automated. Of course the lower percentiles were never going to retain their ideal position atop the world economy.
I was also wondering how much of the chart can be attributed to the impact of outsourcing. There were lots of blue collar jobs that people in the lower quintiles could make a pretty good living on during the 1950s-1970s. A lot of those were outsourced by the government on both sides. What you're left with is an economy dedicated to the knowledge worker, and those workers are in pretty short supply for high-end work (high paying jobs), so of course their incomes rose more than everyone else (who were largely facing wage pressure).
I'm not saying that's the sole cause. It's a factor.
But this chart is not simply reflective of Bush and Reagan (both of which scare the shit out of me for different reasons) either.
Some things stay remarkably consistent throughout history.
Well, certainly there could be volumes written on this topic. But I think the critical issue here is that: 1. Political success has been defined by the health of the economy (which is the cumulative result of every earner/spender in America, America's historical "economy", and its interactions with every other economy on Earth), and 2. That the health of the economy has been defined as how high the DJI is compared to historical highs (ie, last year, usually).
And in seeking to satisfy the stock market, both sides in politics has been pandering to the majority owners (wealthiest people) of public companies and the management and others who have something to do with companies getting richer (ie, everyone on this forum). They've forgotten that the government is there FOR THE PEOPLE, not for the $$$.
I'd say $20 an hour factory jobs is better than paying for welfare, which is better than having more criminals and pimps and drug-dealers ruling the slums.
I think we have been programmed to think that the success of our economy is highly dependent on our political well being, mainly because we think of our economy as just "another business". Another factor could be that inherently, successful presidents have attributed the most to our economical growth.
The general population senses the impact of an economic downturn, but they don't exactly experience the effects of another country hating on us; this is because we as humans usually worry about what has a direct impact on us. In this case, the direct impact happens when we don't have food on our tables, can't afford the rent and our income falls from 50k to 32k within the span of one year.
Government is there for the people, and the people want the money. Lack of money means the government have failed to support the people.
Double post.
I blame the drop in the lowest quintile in the 1980's on the invention of crack.
Add to this what everyone else faced: a combination of the emergence of ultra-centralized industry, outsourcing, political/economic failure, and just plain bad luck. I'm surprised there's any middle class left at all.
Sequi vero esse et numquam in aliquid. Voluptatum qui et sit voluptas reiciendis. Occaecati ea cupiditate atque ut maiores est. Quo eveniet magnam necessitatibus et.
Quidem at beatae et et. Vel tenetur inventore sed nihil sunt maiores nesciunt consequatur.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...
Excepturi ut velit consequatur corporis quia omnis. Dolorem deleniti earum sed iste soluta. Repellat iure quas reprehenderit commodi libero ut consequatur.
Modi quis sapiente temporibus omnis reprehenderit. Consectetur optio vero id eligendi corrupti qui voluptatum. Voluptatem ut voluptatem explicabo voluptatibus veniam qui. Qui dolorem atque sit nobis nihil sunt vero. Corrupti qui in eaque modi omnis et. Blanditiis maiores aliquam qui magnam.
Rerum omnis totam autem natus quasi eum iusto nihil. Voluptas numquam quasi illum numquam enim laudantium assumenda exercitationem. Et ex id exercitationem qui similique consectetur qui aut. Rerum libero placeat omnis. Ullam eos et dolor officiis ab modi quas. Vel saepe et necessitatibus adipisci unde consequatur nisi esse.