Is 1971 the timeline split?
Yes this is part of it.
What happened is Nixon fucked up fiat and fucked us all:
i see this often and have ambiguous feelings.
on the one hand yes, this illustrates a huge shift in paradigm of the degree to which laborers are woefully undercompensated in a trend toward a massive wealth gap favoring the wealthy.
on the other, it sort of implies a “good old days” ideal which is utterly unrealistic. as though somehow before 1971 laborers were fairly treated, and if we could “just get back” to that point, everything would be fine.
oppression under capital has existed for centuries, not decades. the implication that Nixon or Reagan are the root of absolutely all of current economic suffering, while enjoyable and tasty to say, is patently untrue.
this graph and that one website are often presented as raw evidence, but the reader is left to draw their own conclusions as to wtf this all means for policy.
best case, the reader gets a “fuck Reagan and the capitalist conservative party” vibe.
worst case, you get totally led astray into thinking that bringing back the gold standard is going to fix every problem with wealth inequality and white supremacy in america or something.
Woah, woah, woah. Here I am just spitting poorly thought out ramblings and you come back with coherent argument! :D
So yes, I totally agree. There is no good old days! Workers were treated like shit. Working in modern day WFH, to put it simply, I'm pampered.
I cite this graph more in context of nobody below a certain age being reasonably able to afford a house (or anything really), unless their parents make the down payment.
"oppression under capital has existed for centuries, not decades.", yes the parallels between today and serfdom are evident, apart from the rather much better living standard (for most of us).
Gold standard sucks, I am just advocating for a new and different system, certainly not an old and worse one!
So I wholeheartedly agree with you.
In case you, like me, prefer to have depressing data in the form of a webcomic:
We should add prices for basic need to this chart to show the non believers that there's no reason other than greed for this
Prices are already included in the graph, that's the meaning of "real" wages, i.e. inflation-adjusted
Millennials discover surplus value (1850s concept)
AKA "the only reason you have a job is because they sell what you make for a lot more"
Another bash.org memory (paraphrasing)...
User: I just downloaded a song on Napster and when it finished, I noticed the guy I downloaded it from was now downloading it from me
User: I sent him a message saying I just got that song from him
User: He said, "I know, I'm getting my song back asshole"
this?
Nice yeah! I should have guessed that someone saved a copy of bash.
The furries will now seize Zootopia from Disney if this was true lol
You guys can watch TNG when I'm done with it
