enough of the narrative, enjoy taking data out of the segments [such as database?]. And when I do, I
see two very different chapters in American history from 1945 to 1981. I see a chapter of prosperity
[capitalism?] for the income growth of the entire [record?]. And from 1981 forward, I see a chapter
of enrichment [capitalism?].
I wonder if there's a contrast between prosperity capitalism [up to then on?] and enrichment
capitalism [then on?] has caught other people's attention too.
Yeah, people like me have been talking about that for decades [literally?].
I had a 1992 article about that transition. If you look at the bar graph, the first [work?] generation is
this [picken?] fence and the second generation is the step ladder for the first step above below
ground from [subrasive?] income. So, no, there's a total transition. Everything changes around1980.
If we go a little bit further back- however I think that this is also relevant that middle class society,
the one I grew up in, that period of [sproutly sheered?] growth- that's not what America always was.
America was a very unequal society in 1929, but it's quite an equal society by 1947, and closer look
at the data that happened quite suddenly; it happened really largely during the World War 2. It's
what [Klea Golden?] called the Great Compression. So the middle class society that we had for our
generation in World War 2 was created by the rise of unions and a [famous peculiar?] environment
by the use of government power to equalize wages, by high toppings on tax incomes. So I was
actually telling you that the kind of society we have now is a choice, and I think that's the point. We
are accustomed to, which is, that growth is very much [constrained?] in the hands of a few people is
not a necessity and is not beyond the reach of the political system. We made ourselves away from a
beaurocractic society once and we could do it again.
The question is, how did the [race?] question fit in as an overlay to all of this. And when we talk
about the prosperity society, was that truly a prosperity society in terms of distribution, we can talk
about capital accumulation during the years of slavery. There's a new debate about [reparations?]
which is going to [permeate?] different political discourse, how do you play that out in terms of
analysis and political programs.
The truth is that despite a lot of overt racism, the period of prosperity-- even blacks benefit from it
but that doesn't mean that there was a horrific amount of raw racism. But, there was a benefit all for
everybody. Race played a crucial role in the political transition. If you ask, "why did politics turn so
suddenly [rightwards?] in the United States?". The answer is basically-- it's the late effects of the
[severe attack?]. The new deal [collision?], sad to say, was a [collision?] between a pretty social
liberal, social and racial as well group in the north and southern [range?], as long as it did not
endanger wise supremacy because the south was still quite poor. And so, racist why United States is
central to everything so maybe we could trancend that as it is one of the problems in the United
States politics
I'm enough of a nerd to enjoy digging data out of the Zuckerman's IRS database, and when I do, I see
two different chapters in American history from 1945 to 1980, when I see a chapter of prosperity
capitalism where incomes rose for the entire workforce. And from 1981 forward, I see a chapter I
would call enrichment capitalism. I wonder if that contrast between prosperity capitalism up to
Reagan and enrichment capitalism from Reagan forward has caught people's attention too.
Oh, yeah, people like me have been talking about that for decades, literally, I had a 1992 article
about that transition. If you look at the bar graph, the first post-war generation is this picket fence
