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Perhaps underemployment and the associated modern issues of affordable housing, working hours, inequality, and distinct lack of wage growth outside tech makes t

Perhaps underemployment and the associated modern issues of affordable housing, working hours, inequality, and distinct lack of wage growth outside tech makes the labour market feel decidedly unhealthy. Even compared to the jobs market of the more turbulent 80s. Compare that with the post-war boom when there was markedly less inequality, housing was affordable for a couple, and high employment brought wage rises. A boom that brought benefit for a far wider proportion of the population. What's the point of an economic expansion if most are not a part of it? It's not unique to the US either, most or all of the issues the article raises are replicated across all the developed economies.

taiwanboy 7y ago
Post war boom had the European and Japanese economy offline, and Chinese economy nonexistent. So no globalization threat. It is very unrealistic to compare to it or expect that condition again (unless we are talking about 100% tariffs coming back)
- NeedMoreTea 7y ago
  Well that's not true. Europe and Japan powered through the late 40s through 60s with emphasis on rebuilding and exports. In good part that's how Japan built the place they had in the 80s with electronics and cars - through post war restructuring and Deming et al, sustained boom, and exporting. 1960s and 1970s globalisation was the four Asian tigers: Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan producing the cheap goods we now associate with China. Even the UK, in the seventies often referred to as "sick man of Europe", had built an unprecedented period of growth, falling inequality, and extreme exporting. The immediate post-war saw "export or die" as the political catchphrase. The marked difference is, unlike the US who had profited hugely from WW2, those economies started from near bankruptcy in 1945 so took a little longer to reach boom. Could we reproduce similar conditions? No. Could we have an economy that benefits a far wider proportion of citizens and makes it feel like a boom or expansion for them? Most certainly.
  - taiwanboy 7y ago
    It is true. US inequality rose around 1980. almost specifically around the time of japan (and Asia) and Europe’s rise from ashes and US losing jobs to globalization. They were a mere fraction of their former self before then. Japan’s gdp spikes around 1985. Same with Germany.
    - NeedMoreTea 7y ago
      That was after post-war boom ended. Mainly as a result of the 73 oil crisis and the follow-on chaos of the rest of the seventies. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-World_War_II_economic_expansion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-World_War_II_economic_exp...

taiwanboy 7y ago

Post war boom had the European and Japanese economy offline, and Chinese economy nonexistent. So no globalization threat. It is very unrealistic to compare to it or expect that condition again (unless we are talking about 100% tariffs coming back)

NeedMoreTea 7y ago
Well that's not true. Europe and Japan powered through the late 40s through 60s with emphasis on rebuilding and exports. In good part that's how Japan built the place they had in the 80s with electronics and cars - through post war restructuring and Deming et al, sustained boom, and exporting. 1960s and 1970s globalisation was the four Asian tigers: Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan producing the cheap goods we now associate with China. Even the UK, in the seventies often referred to as "sick man of Europe", had built an unprecedented period of growth, falling inequality, and extreme exporting. The immediate post-war saw "export or die" as the political catchphrase. The marked difference is, unlike the US who had profited hugely from WW2, those economies started from near bankruptcy in 1945 so took a little longer to reach boom. Could we reproduce similar conditions? No. Could we have an economy that benefits a far wider proportion of citizens and makes it feel like a boom or expansion for them? Most certainly.
- taiwanboy 7y ago
  It is true. US inequality rose around 1980. almost specifically around the time of japan (and Asia) and Europe’s rise from ashes and US losing jobs to globalization. They were a mere fraction of their former self before then. Japan’s gdp spikes around 1985. Same with Germany.
  - NeedMoreTea 7y ago
    That was after post-war boom ended. Mainly as a result of the 73 oil crisis and the follow-on chaos of the rest of the seventies. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-World_War_II_economic_expansion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-World_War_II_economic_exp...