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It’s Not Capitalism. It’s the Ghost of Richard Nixon.
Tracing the death of the American Dream
Why do Boomers think everything can be solved by pulling yourself up by your bootstraps? Because that was literally their reality.
During America’s Golden Age of Capitalism (1940s — early 70s), you could buy a house and raise a family, all on a single salary.
Why did we lose this? It’s not because of end-stage capitalism.
The real reason is because Richard Nixon abandoned the Gold Standard in 1971.
Let me break it down in simple terms. And explain why we should be mad as hell at the government.
Under capitalism, there are 2 classes, broadly speaking:
- Workers
- Owners
In an ideal capitalist system, these classes aren’t fixed. A worker can choose to become an owner by launching businesses, and vice versa.
Most importantly, both classes can live a good life. Yes, owners will always make substantially more. Maybe even become billionaires. But this doesn’t cause the working class to suffer. You can spend your entire life in the working class, and still make enough money to raise an entire family.
