4 ms·

Or is this a signal that the broad and rapid American growth in the middle of the 20th century was anomalous, not a baseline? It might not be a "dearth of reso

Or is this a signal that the broad and rapid American growth in the middle of the 20th century was anomalous, not a baseline? It might not be a "dearth of resources" but a return to the true long-term norm.

ProAm 10y ago
It wasnt anomalous, we were pretty much the only country not bombed to pieces and had an infrastructure to build upon while most countries were simply rebuilding.
closeparen 10y ago
Given a large enough time horizon, the only "baseline" lifestyle is subsistence agriculture.
- tonyedgecombe 10y ago
  I think it's probably sensible to start after the industrial revolution.
Clubber 10y ago
The broad, rapid American growth has a lot to do with the fact that Europe and the Far East was in complete ruins after WWII and the US was in the immediate position to rebuild Europe. Remember, right before the mid century prosperity, we were in a massive depression caused by the "Roaring 20s" which was fueled by another smoldering Europe. The time period before WWI; the late 1800s and early 1900s were pretty bleak. Before that, the North was fairly prosperous but the South was under reconstruction, so that region was pretty bleak as well. Of course, there is plenty of wealth to go around today, it's just concentrated due to a war on the middle class by industry, aided by goverment, dating back to at least Reagan.
- linkregister 10y ago
  The time period from 1890 to 1929 experienced steady growth in the U.S. [1] The Roaring 20s was not the cause of the Great Depression. The Great Depression was caused by a variety of factors, primarily unsustainable debt issuance and overproduction in the agricultural sector. Other important factors include crushing wartime debts owed by European nations to American creditors (vastly harming exports), a liquidity crunch and massive deflation due to adherence to the gold standard, and uncertainty by Capital resulting in a lack of expansion.[2] 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_history_of_the_United_States#Economic_growth_and_the_1910_break https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_history_of_the_United... 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causes_of_the_Great_Depression https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causes_of_the_Great_Depression
  - pjmorris 10y ago
    I always thought that the 'Roaring 20s' were caused by 'unsustainable debt issuance'. You seem to not connect the two... can you elaborate?
    - linkregister 10y ago
      It's a common misconception that the stock speculation bought on leverage was the cause of the depression. Indeed, margin calls caused automatic stock sales to cover the leverage, forcing stock prices down. However, the cascade of bank failures occurred due to due to defaulting agricultural loans. The loans' refinancing requests were suddenly refused when European powers pulled currency out of U.S. banks in order to pay their war debts and reparations. The stock market crash was not the cause of the depression; just one of many larger factors that precipitated it.
      - pjmorris 10y ago
        I didn't distinguish between borrowing for stocks and borrowing for agriculture. I see both as elements of the unsustainable debt buildup. I view the stock market crash as a symptom of the unsustainable debt, not as a cause.
  - Clubber 10y ago
    Let me clarify. The primary debt issuance was debt taken by people doing stock market speculation. The joke at the time was that if your shoe shine boy was asking you about stocks, something weird is about to happen. The agriultural overproduction was a result of the drop in market prices for goods, so the farmers ramped up production to make up for it, ignoring good farming practices, notably proper tilling and crop / land rotation which resulted in the deterioration of the top soil (dust bowl). All of this happened in the Roaring 20s. As far as before the 20s, you had WWI and the industry kings manipulating the markets. They were doing fine, but the people working under them weren't. This was the era of industrialization, child labor and The Jungle. It was wonderful if you were an industry titan, but bleak for most everyone else. Anyway, my point being, the great prosperity we experienced after WWII was more of an anomaly that anything else. I believe it was sustainable through smart regulation and government investment among other things, but interests have been working hard to bring us back to where we were before.

ProAm 10y ago

It wasnt anomalous, we were pretty much the only country not bombed to pieces and had an infrastructure to build upon while most countries were simply rebuilding.

closeparen 10y ago

Given a large enough time horizon, the only "baseline" lifestyle is subsistence agriculture.

tonyedgecombe 10y ago
I think it's probably sensible to start after the industrial revolution.

Clubber 10y ago

The broad, rapid American growth has a lot to do with the fact that Europe and the Far East was in complete ruins after WWII and the US was in the immediate position to rebuild Europe. Remember, right before the mid century prosperity, we were in a massive depression caused by the "Roaring 20s" which was fueled by another smoldering Europe. The time period before WWI; the late 1800s and early 1900s were pretty bleak. Before that, the North was fairly prosperous but the South was under reconstruction, so that region was pretty bleak as well. Of course, there is plenty of wealth to go around today, it's just concentrated due to a war on the middle class by industry, aided by goverment, dating back to at least Reagan.

linkregister 10y ago
The time period from 1890 to 1929 experienced steady growth in the U.S. [1] The Roaring 20s was not the cause of the Great Depression. The Great Depression was caused by a variety of factors, primarily unsustainable debt issuance and overproduction in the agricultural sector. Other important factors include crushing wartime debts owed by European nations to American creditors (vastly harming exports), a liquidity crunch and massive deflation due to adherence to the gold standard, and uncertainty by Capital resulting in a lack of expansion.[2] 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_history_of_the_United_States#Economic_growth_and_the_1910_break https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_history_of_the_United... 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causes_of_the_Great_Depression https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causes_of_the_Great_Depression
- pjmorris 10y ago
  I always thought that the 'Roaring 20s' were caused by 'unsustainable debt issuance'. You seem to not connect the two... can you elaborate?
  - linkregister 10y ago
    It's a common misconception that the stock speculation bought on leverage was the cause of the depression. Indeed, margin calls caused automatic stock sales to cover the leverage, forcing stock prices down. However, the cascade of bank failures occurred due to due to defaulting agricultural loans. The loans' refinancing requests were suddenly refused when European powers pulled currency out of U.S. banks in order to pay their war debts and reparations. The stock market crash was not the cause of the depression; just one of many larger factors that precipitated it.
    - pjmorris 10y ago
      I didn't distinguish between borrowing for stocks and borrowing for agriculture. I see both as elements of the unsustainable debt buildup. I view the stock market crash as a symptom of the unsustainable debt, not as a cause.
- Clubber 10y ago
  Let me clarify. The primary debt issuance was debt taken by people doing stock market speculation. The joke at the time was that if your shoe shine boy was asking you about stocks, something weird is about to happen. The agriultural overproduction was a result of the drop in market prices for goods, so the farmers ramped up production to make up for it, ignoring good farming practices, notably proper tilling and crop / land rotation which resulted in the deterioration of the top soil (dust bowl). All of this happened in the Roaring 20s. As far as before the 20s, you had WWI and the industry kings manipulating the markets. They were doing fine, but the people working under them weren't. This was the era of industrialization, child labor and The Jungle. It was wonderful if you were an industry titan, but bleak for most everyone else. Anyway, my point being, the great prosperity we experienced after WWII was more of an anomaly that anything else. I believe it was sustainable through smart regulation and government investment among other things, but interests have been working hard to bring us back to where we were before.