Free market freaks like to say that capitalistic greed eventually lifts all boats. No so. It only lifts all boats at those times when it is to the advantage of those at the top to have it do so.

The decades following WWII was such a time for Americans. With the rest of the world devastated by war there were tons of money to be made by American corporations selling everything under the sun to the rest of the world. And for the moment,in order to cash in on the world’s hunger for goods a services, it was worth it for corporations to pay Americans good wages, causing a middle-class boomlet that has since collapsed.

But of course once it became possible to produce goods by cheap foreign labor, American workers were dropped like a hot potato.

Life has always been a game of king of the hill. Capitalism has just become the most effective form of the game.