So... What did happen in the 70's...?

[Whiskeytide]

This chart was recently posted by Xchrome:



Here's the link to this excellent post:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023911945#post1


I'm re-posting it because I think this deserves some discussion. And I'm going to get the movie "Inequality for All" - maybe it will help answer this question:

What exactly did happen in the 70's that turned this around?

Was it the "anti-union, anti-US worker" mantra? I remember as a teenager in the 70's hearing about how US auto workers were "pricing themselves out of the labor market" and the Japanese car makers were taking advantage of it.

Was it cheap labor available overseas? Outsourcing American jobs was a problem long before anyone noticed, right? I remember that for a while you could buy a "Craftsman" hammer made in the US $X and it would likely last you a lifetime, or you could buy a "Crossmen's" hammer made in Taiwan for half that price, and the head fell off after a year. There was, for a while, a very real difference in the quality. Now, they're all pieces of shit made overseas for as little as possible, and most of us expect to replace a hammer every couple of years or so.

Was it the extension of easy credit to Americans, so everyone could now afford the G.I.Joe with the kung-fu grip on a credit card plan regardless of whether they could actually "afford" it? Who needs to advocate for a "raise" when you can "charge it" and pay for it later? It seems the "company store" - to which you quickly found yourself owing your soul to - just re-invented itself as CitiBank (or whatever it was back then). It was easy to "feel" like you had made it, when in reality you were just borrowing yourself into a deeper and deeper hole.

Was it a shift to a consumer based economy? We don't MAKE shit, we BUY shit!!! - on CREDIT!!

Was it rampant narcissism nurtured by the advent of sophisticated advertising campaigns? - having two chickens in every oven wasn't enough anymore - I want a BIGGER chicken than my neighbor... I think advertising came of age in the 70's - TV had been around for a couple of decades, and was reaching more and more consumers. The retail industry suddenly discovered they could "manufacture" demand with good advertising, rather than create a product people actually needed and wanted - you know, actual demand.

Disco, maybe? I don't know how, but DAMN - it was evil!!!

I have to go for a while - meetings for work. But I'd love to hear the input and insight from the big brains here when I check back in.