In the 60 years after World War II, the United States built the world's greatest middle class economy, then unbuilt it. And if you want a single snapshot that captures the broad sweep of that transformation, you could do much worse than this graph from a new Pew report, which tracks how average family incomes have changed at each rung of the economic ladder from 1950 through 2010.
Here's the curve it catches: In the prompt after war time frame, America's fast development supported the center and lower classes. The poorest fifth of all family units, truth be told, fared best. At that point, in the 1970s, in the midst of two oil emergencies and terrible expansion, things came to a standstill. The nation supported off the after war, focus left agreement - caught by Richard Nixon's remark that "we're all Keynesians now" - and attempted Reaganism. We cut assessments. Innovation and rivalry from abroad began whittling without end at hands on occupations and pay. The money related markets took off. Thus when development returned, it supported the venture class - the best 20 percent, and particularly the best 5 percent (and, however it's not on this diagram, the best 1 percent more than anyone).
And then it all fell apart. The aughts were a lost decade for families, and it's not clear how much better they'll fare in the next.
None of this is new history.But it's helpful to have a crisp layout of what's changed.
Recognize differences among the victorious Allied Powers after World War II (i.e., capitalist, communist, military structure, individual differences).
