Capitalism helped our country grow spectacularly for some time. It can work extremely well, but only if particular elements of the economy maintain a balance that promotes long term growth in favor of short term explosions of wealth.
Comments
1:22 am 06/10/2011
z0phi3l
I'm guessing 1980 was the time there were more Americans on some sort of Social service than working
1:25 am 06/10/2011
thomasslavin
Ronald Reagan took office January, 1981. Then the greed heads took the country and put it in their pockets.
1:32 am 06/10/2011
Razail
i would argue that the Savings & Loan crisis had a lot to do with it. Specifically interest rates, increasing unemployment numbers, and increased homelessness sparked a lot of social economic changes as well as increases in violent crime.
Banks began opperating more heavily with adjustable interest rates which would eventually become normal and everyday, and we also see that regulation of a number of industries decreased. Also, as Thomasslavin mentioned, Reagan came into office in 81.
11:20 am 06/10/2011
Quaektem
you did notice that both sides of the graph use different data sets, right?