How I Met Your Mother actually addressed that plot hole by showing the group misremembering the size of the apartment they were in.

And since then, productivity exploded. Machines and automation everywhere. We are in the age of overconsumption. And value is created at an always acceleratind pace.

But then things started to slow down. But wealth growth can't slow down! It has to grow, always, and always faster. So when "produce more" stopped working, they turned to "produce for cheap".

They started cutting spendings and benefits. But it wasn't enough. And they told western workers that they were no longer competitive. Yes, that plant they're shutting down was making money. But it would make MORE money in China and other third world countries.

And while plants were going away, salaries got stagnant. Wealth was growing again!

But then the growth slowed down again. So they bought governments to get huge subsidies they could funnel in their wealth growth again.

And now plants are "optimal". Wages are low. Govs hand out money. Why is it not working?

Because they impoverished so much the working class that there is no one left to buy the goods they produce.

The problem is obvious to anyone looking: money is needed for the economy to run. If it's all locked up by oligarchs, then it serves no purpose and the economy suffocates. And there is no remote way a handful of people can manage the world's economy. "Trickle down economy" has failed everywhere and everytime it was attempted. So they're terrified. Terrified of the working class, terrified of common good, terrified of common sense.

So to make sure they can keep hoarding whatever is left to get, they turned to fascists and propped them across the world, by controlling medias and flooding social networks.

And here we are: in the age of overproduction and mass poverty combined, with a class of scared oligarchs ready to take the world down with them as long as no one stops their wealth hoarding.

Nice breakdown.

Don't leave out the part that after this American renaissance, where those returning soldiers became workers who reaped the rewards of that one in a million economic boon, their children started fabricating narratives about 'hard work' and 'grit' being the reason their inherited wealth was justified.

Then they shoved that narrative down the next three generations' throats while exclaiming "kids these days are lazy" and "I worked a summer job to pay for college, why can't you?". All the while pulling up every ladder that had been constructed to put them in that position.

Fantastic post, well done, sir.

It was and is all planned

This is the natural tendency of capitalism. Paying workers more is less profitable, therefore companies that do so are less attractive to capital.

At the same time, to remain competitive, capital requires greater and greater investment, eg 20 years ago a grocery store needed 10 cashiers and $10,000 worth of machinery, now it needs 2 cashiers and $100,000 worth of investment to remain competitive and obtain the same revenue.

So per dollar invested, the rate of return goes down over time if the market doesn't expand.

No, this was everybody. I don’t think there was a single exception to this lifestyle whatsoever.

But you don't need an income that high for the lifestyle described, outside of major cities anyway. UK here for context, I would only really expect needing a high income in London. I live on the south coast, if it wasn't for house prices and mortgage rates 1 minimum wage part time income would cover this lifestyle. Unfortunately I need to pay £1100 a month for decades instead. Maybe after a while inflation will make that easier.

All other expenses a month? £170 council tax (sorta like property tax but far more regressive), £100 energy, £24 internet, water is so cheap I haven't really tracked it, under £20, food £100 or so for 2. All essentials for aboit £420 a month or 34 hours at minimum wage - for the month!

Unfortunately stuck paying the majority of my income on a mortgage.

Even if you weren't. The economic boom of the 20th century gave birth to lots of prosperous minority communities.

Only problem was that if you ever got too prosperous, neighbors might come by to burn the place down.

But a lot of the so-called economic anxiety kicked off by mass migration to California, Texas, and Florida (and to London, Paris, Berlin, St. Petersberg, Beijing, Tokyo, and Mexico City) was the result of war refugees, political dissidents, and victims of a shifting market economy finding real serious economic benefits to relocating inside the fence of one of the world's premier powers. You didn't need to be white to achieve a marked improvement in quality of life, you just needed to be within arm's reach of all the advanced industrial capital and its benefits.

The Two Income Trap that began to rear its head in the 80s/90s was a consequence of housing, higher education debts, and child care costs that prior generations hadn't historically dealt with. One could plausibly argue that the extended adolescence of college demonstrates an overall improved economy, as people are no longer joining the workforce in their teenage years and trying to outproduce a historically high infant mortality rate.

But the benefits of the economy have gone disproportionately to the leisure and professional managerial classes, while the working classes absorb higher debts/rents and defer accessing the industrial improvements until much later in life. It isn't that non-white people never see them. It is simply that they are much older when they finally do and enjoy the benefits for less time, due to higher mortality rates.