Member-only story
The End Of “The Great Prosperity”
In America, “The Great Prosperity” is roughly 1947–1977. “The Great Regression” is 1981 — currently.
What marks each?
Regarding “The Great Prosperity:”
It’s important to note that the Great Prosperity is the only time in U.S. history that the capitalist economic system produced significant income growth for all income levels. It was in fact an era of shared prosperity. This has not been the case since Friedman’s philosophy became widely adopted.
Friedman’s (Milton) philosophy took the old theory — corporations have duties not just to shareholders, but also to society and their workers — and said “Naw.”
Thus begot the “key stakeholders” problem of most jobs, whereby all any of us do all day is try to please the eight-ten people with authority. It’s also why the concept of “employee engagement” is largely a joke.
So what’s The Great Regression?
That’s what much of America is feeling now. Causes? Here’s an attempt:
