The Post World War II history of America will be written as one of the greatest failures to befall a people. The American people were led to believe that constant consumerism and vapid intellectualism would lead to greatness. Corporate power extended into every facet of life. The first strike was versus the commons. People who were once able to walk freely and communicate freely were ushered into the world of private malls. Areas where free speech is not only discouraged but impermissible. Corporations are however free to lie I mead advertise their products.
Calvin Coolige remakred that that “the business of America is business.” The Great Depression and the ’60s rebellions nearly redefined the business of America but American remains a Corporate State. The shopping mall is the foundation of America’s corporate state. Prior to the Post WWII period Americans were a thrifty bunch. The idea of a “credit/debt” card would be against their very nature. They paid as they went. The consumer culture of the post war period is diametrically opposed to our founder’s culture.
The Post War consumer culture needed a way to pay for its very consumerism. In the 1950s and 60s wages rose in order for Americans to maintain a consumer culture. In the 1970s America experienced a significant recession that turned into stagflation for much of the 1970s. America’s real wages have declined since the mid-1970s yet America’s consumer spending has increased every year. How can Americans buy more while their real incomes are declining? The answer is the debt card.
America has maintained its lifestyle through debt not credit. The debt card enable Americans to maintain a veneer of success while the top 1% of Americans waged war on their wages and very lifestyle. The use of the credit card skyrocketed in the 90s and 00s. Credit Card companies realized they could hook teenagers and college students into lifetime debt peonage. Instead of accepting their lives they were told they could finance a lifestyle. As a result of financing a lifestyle Americans are now underwater. The American consumer paid for the world’s economic expansion with Chinese recycled dollars and now the credit bubble is collapsing. The mortgage bubble is already in collapse but consumer debt is soon following this trend. When people are faced with the choice of food or payments they’ll choose food.
If anyone ever wonders why America failed the simple answer is “It was the credit bubble, stupid!”
If you disagree with that frame then please read about neo-liberalism, Washington Consensus, Structural Adjustment Programs, Jeffrey Sachs and Milton Friedman. Every policy from the University of Chicago and Sachs (Harvard) has only increased the power of the elites while dismantling any safety net for everyone else.
