Not to mention that the USA was the only industrial power on the planet undiminished by war. This resulted in most of the world depending on American industrial capacity. Profits were so large that corporations paid whatever it took to keep manufacturing going full-bore. This was an unnatural era of productivity and profits.

People began to think of this as the new normal when only 20 years before, normality was the teetering edge of poverty and starvation. This extreme difference, coupled with WWII triumphalism, resulted in two generations of unrealistic expectations of wealth and equality.

We continue to hold unrealistic expectations of industry and government. A clever, ambitious politician sees this difference between reality and expectations as an opportunity.