4 ms·

Plenty of events to choose from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1971 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1971 Highlights: - "A new stock market index called th

by aazaa 6y ago

Plenty of events to choose from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1971 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1971 Highlights: - "A new stock market index called the Nasdaq Composite debuts." - "Starbucks, a major coffeehouse and outlet in worldwide, is founded in the U.S. State of Washington." - "The U.S. ends its trade embargo of China." - "President Richard Nixon declares the U.S. War on Drugs." - "Southwest Airlines, a low-cost carrier, begins its first flights between Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio." - "American President Richard Nixon announces his 1972 visit to China." - "President Richard Nixon announces that the United States will no longer convert dollars to gold at a fixed value, effectively ending the Bretton Woods system. He also imposes a 90-day freeze on wages, prices and rents." - "The United Nations General Assembly admits the People's Republic of China and expels the Republic of China (or Taiwan)." - "Ray Tomlinson sends the first ARPANET e-mail between host computers.[" - "The People's Republic of China takes the Republic of China's seat on the United Nations Security Council (see China and the United Nations)." - "The U.S. dollar is devalued for the second time in history." These events can be grouped into categories: - pro-deflationary (e.g., China rising, the first email message, Southwest) - anti-working-class (War on Drugs) - increasing financial speculation (NASDAQ) - financial (end of Bretton Woods, US dollar devaluation) - consumerism (Starbucks makes coffee cool and diverts billions from working-class savings) I know that the site advocates the end of Bretton Woods as the main cause, but that event is just one in a spectrum of major arcs that had major emergences in the early 1970s after slow burns in the 50s and 60s.

nipponese 6y ago
Not specifically happening in 1971, but one could argue this is the start of the Information Age and subsequent "digital divide"
hosh 6y ago
I'd add that in 1970, the intermodal shipping container became an ISO standard. Containerization has been developing since 1956, and along with minicomputers, would have an impact on world trade and manufacturing for decades to come.
- jandrese 6y ago
  IMHO this could be larger than most people would think. This made it affordable to export labor overseas, starting the power imbalance between employers and employees. I'll bet if you look this is the start of die off of Unions. Now there is an alternative to employees who start demanding living wages and benefits, you can build your factory in another country where labor has few rights. The only unions you would expect to survive are ones where the labor can't be outsourced. Service unions. Transportation. Mining in cases where the material is too expensive to ship like coal.
  - hosh 6y ago
    Yup. Labor is not as mobile for the employee. Amazon is interesting too. They brought the global supply chain to the consumer. What consequences will that have?
  - Fazel94 6y ago
    The best example are Police Unions :) Though Teachers Unions would a counter example.
proverbialbunny 6y ago
It's interesting that the middle class started losing wealth and income stagnated in relation to the larger economy starting in 1971-1972, but most of the events from 1971 are lagging indicators. Eg, the CIA was actively keeping China from being able to obtain chips in the mid '70s. China was barely able to export anything until the late '80s - early '90s. The birth of the digital age is another good example, but tech didn't take over many jobs until the late '70s if not the mid '80s. When analyzing wage stagnation in a finer detail: Going off the gold standard caused a rise in the stock market. Also, we have regulated food prices in the US, so the current metric we use to measure inflation isn't strongly correlated to a living wage. Meanwhile, people who are invested in the stock market and rental properties, aka the upper 10%, have seen a large boom in wealth. (Not just the upper 1% have had a rise in wealth.) Unless we have any other ideas that is being overlooked here, it does in fact look like going off the gold standard started this trend, and has only been amplified by trade and tech later on. Could it be possible that unionized workers started shrinking in 1971? They're commonly cited by historians as a key element in the rise of working class wages, so it would be a good place to check to see if there is a correlation there.
- gruez 6y ago
  >Also, we have regulated food prices in the US Can you expand on this?
  - proverbialbunny 6y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agricultural_subsidy#United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agricultural_subsidy#United_St...
    - gruez 6y ago
      subsidy =/= "regulated"
      - proverbialbunny 6y ago
        A subsidy is a kind of regulation.
russellbeattie 6y ago
Population then was also half of what it is today. (Imagine Thanatos snapping his fingers! Huh, I guess it wouldn't really be that bad.). I was also conceived in 1971, so maybe it was my personal existence. Sorry to everyone affected. I'll be dead within the next 50 years most likely, so be patient.
paulpauper 6y ago
you can say the same for probably any year of the past 50 years
permo-w 6y ago
economic emancipation of China + cheap flights + email + new shops selling imported coffee Globalisation perhaps?
poutrathor 6y ago
that's it, it must be pesky starbucks !
jim-greer 6y ago
> "Starbucks, a major coffeehouse and outlet in worldwide, is founded in the U.S. State of Washington." That isn't it. Starbucks didn't open its sixth store until 1984. https://historylink.org/File/20292 https://historylink.org/File/20292
Fazel94 6y ago
It is clearly Ray Tomlinson's fault for sending emails. Because anybody else on the list would have an army of defenders to argue for and bring to stall any change to reverse their negative effect.

by aazaa 6y ago

nipponese 6y ago

Not specifically happening in 1971, but one could argue this is the start of the Information Age and subsequent "digital divide"

hosh 6y ago

I'd add that in 1970, the intermodal shipping container became an ISO standard. Containerization has been developing since 1956, and along with minicomputers, would have an impact on world trade and manufacturing for decades to come.

jandrese 6y ago
IMHO this could be larger than most people would think. This made it affordable to export labor overseas, starting the power imbalance between employers and employees. I'll bet if you look this is the start of die off of Unions. Now there is an alternative to employees who start demanding living wages and benefits, you can build your factory in another country where labor has few rights. The only unions you would expect to survive are ones where the labor can't be outsourced. Service unions. Transportation. Mining in cases where the material is too expensive to ship like coal.
- hosh 6y ago
  Yup. Labor is not as mobile for the employee. Amazon is interesting too. They brought the global supply chain to the consumer. What consequences will that have?
- Fazel94 6y ago
  The best example are Police Unions :) Though Teachers Unions would a counter example.

proverbialbunny 6y ago

It's interesting that the middle class started losing wealth and income stagnated in relation to the larger economy starting in 1971-1972, but most of the events from 1971 are lagging indicators. Eg, the CIA was actively keeping China from being able to obtain chips in the mid '70s. China was barely able to export anything until the late '80s - early '90s. The birth of the digital age is another good example, but tech didn't take over many jobs until the late '70s if not the mid '80s. When analyzing wage stagnation in a finer detail: Going off the gold standard caused a rise in the stock market. Also, we have regulated food prices in the US, so the current metric we use to measure inflation isn't strongly correlated to a living wage. Meanwhile, people who are invested in the stock market and rental properties, aka the upper 10%, have seen a large boom in wealth. (Not just the upper 1% have had a rise in wealth.) Unless we have any other ideas that is being overlooked here, it does in fact look like going off the gold standard started this trend, and has only been amplified by trade and tech later on. Could it be possible that unionized workers started shrinking in 1971? They're commonly cited by historians as a key element in the rise of working class wages, so it would be a good place to check to see if there is a correlation there.

gruez 6y ago
>Also, we have regulated food prices in the US Can you expand on this?
- proverbialbunny 6y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agricultural_subsidy#United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agricultural_subsidy#United_St...
  - gruez 6y ago
    subsidy =/= "regulated"
    - proverbialbunny 6y ago
      A subsidy is a kind of regulation.

russellbeattie 6y ago

Population then was also half of what it is today. (Imagine Thanatos snapping his fingers! Huh, I guess it wouldn't really be that bad.). I was also conceived in 1971, so maybe it was my personal existence. Sorry to everyone affected. I'll be dead within the next 50 years most likely, so be patient.

paulpauper 6y ago

you can say the same for probably any year of the past 50 years

permo-w 6y ago

economic emancipation of China + cheap flights + email + new shops selling imported coffee Globalisation perhaps?

poutrathor 6y ago

that's it, it must be pesky starbucks !

jim-greer 6y ago

> "Starbucks, a major coffeehouse and outlet in worldwide, is founded in the U.S. State of Washington." That isn't it. Starbucks didn't open its sixth store until 1984. https://historylink.org/File/20292 https://historylink.org/File/20292

Fazel94 6y ago

It is clearly Ray Tomlinson's fault for sending emails. Because anybody else on the list would have an army of defenders to argue for and bring to stall any change to reverse their negative effect.