Back in reality, US wages have remained stagnant since the early 1970s in inflation-adjusted dollars.
The pie has grown enormous.
But only the few at the top are benefiting from the increase in wealth.
Case in point, automobiles. I remember when the slogan was, "Buy new every two."
Now people are routinely asked to bring their *Payment book* with them to purchase a new care: companies are offering 7-year car loans; and most people lease (which costs a LOT more in the long term, even though you have the illusion of always having a newer-ish car).
It's not because the purchasing power of the average person has improved markedly: it used to be a man could graduate high school, take a factory job, and support a family in a lower-middle-class lifestyle, on his income alone.
Now to get a middle-class lifestyle, it takes both spouses working full-time with college degrees -- which must be paid off.
Speaking of college, it used to be one could work part time during the school year, and full time over the summer, at low-end retail or waitressing jobs, and exit college with a degree and no debt.
How often does *that* happen anymore?
And the quality of the education has markedly decreased: not only is one usually taught by bitter adjuncts or foreign teaching assistants, but the content of the coursework is SWJ converged Marxism and Snowflake Studies with a minor in self-pity: of little interest to future employers.
The same few vermin in the upper tiers, are getting rich off of this as well.
Moron.
Was your diatribe supposed to disprove my point? It didn’t.
Because women in the workplace increase the available supply of labor, thus downward pressure on wages.
I agree. Something has gone wrong. I don’t think capitalism is the culprit. Crony capitalism is.
IOWS...upward mobility...something not so common these days...