This is a pet topic of mine. Here are some interesting breadcrumbs, although a sister post by dv_dt above was a far better summary than I could give, there are

This is a pet topic of mine. Here are some interesting breadcrumbs, although a sister post by dv_dt above was a far better summary than I could give, there are some things I think are illuminating specifically. While not specifically from the presidents you mention, I ascribe to a theory that there were broad cultural and economic shifts that caused the results you see. - The Powell Memo in 1971 [0] - Rise of corporate raiding ~1980 [1] - CPI inflection in 1970s [2] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_F._Powell_Jr.#Powell_Memorandum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_F._Powell_Jr.#Powell_Mem... [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_raid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_raid [2]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumer_price_index#/media/File:US_Consumer_Price_Index_Graph.svg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumer_price_index#/media/Fi...