by Chris Black
There are actually more unemployed people of working age as a percentage now than the height of The Great Depression.
While the ’70s stagflation was bad, the country still had a vibrant middle class and the process of gutting our infrastructure was just getting started.
Main Street was still alive in the 1970s and The Great Financialization of the 1980s and 90s that created record wealth inequality hadn’t begun.
People talk like interest rates were 20% for the entire decade.
It wasn’t until 1979 that interest rates climbed that high, and only stayed there for two years.
The massive interest rate did its job.
The palty 5% we currently have is barely back to the mean, and Wall Street is acting like it is an end of the world scenario.
The inflation from 2020 to now is far higher than any point in the 1970s.
Interest rates should have gone to 30% to cool this insanity.
The problem is that it would have destroyed Wall Street.
Thanks to financialization, Wall Street and the stock market is the “economy”.
Without the fraudulent market for worthless stock certificates, economic activity would cease.
The 401k represents the purchasing power of what is left of the middle class.
They can’t afford the lifestyle from wages.
Look around, do you see a vibrant economy with real competition?
All I see are two or three chains that represent 90% of the business in their sector.