Without earlier data it’s impossible to know whether it was on the way up or down in 1950, but notice that the prosperity decline started sometime in the 1950s, right when the business world started handing out consumer credit like candy. They discovered that when given the chance, people were willing to spend money they didn’t have. And with the shift to psychologically designed advertising that encouraged viewers to feel inadequate and insecure, people could be persuaded to spend money they didn’t have on crap they didn’t need. Over the next few generations people have gradually become accustomed to more and more debt and less and less financial security. We’re like frogs in a slow cooker, suddenly realizing something smells like soup and it’s us.
Without earlier data it’s impossible to know whether it was on the way up or down in 1950, but notice that the prosperity decline started sometime in the 1950s, right when the business world started handing out consumer credit like candy. They discovered that when given the chance, people were willing to spend money they didn’t have. And with the shift to psychologically designed advertising that encouraged viewers to feel inadequate and insecure, people could be persuaded to spend money they didn’t have on crap they didn’t need. Over the next few generations people have gradually become accustomed to more and more debt and less and less financial security. We’re like frogs in a slow cooker, suddenly realizing something smells like soup and it’s us.