Why The Middle Class Was Destroyed (1971-2024): From 62% Of Wealth To 27%

Описание: 💼 Why the Middle Class Was Destroyed (1971–2024)

In 1970, the middle class made up 61% of the population and owned 62% of the nation’s wealth.
By 2024, it shrank to 50% of the population while owning just 27% of the wealth.
This was not natural economic change — it was engineered destruction.

The turning point came in 1971, when the U.S. abandoned the gold standard. Unlimited money creation followed, driving asset inflation that benefited asset owners while wages stagnated. From 1973 to today, productivity rose 77%, but wages rose only 17%, creating a $50 trillion wealth transfer from workers to owners.

At the same time, unions were dismantled. Membership collapsed from 27% to about 6% in the private sector, stripping workers of bargaining power. Wages stopped rising, while corporate profits and executive pay exploded.

Offshoring became a weapon. Trade agreements like NAFTA and China’s entry into the WTO enabled corporations to offshore production, destroying 5 million manufacturing jobs and permanently suppressing wages across the economy.

The pillars of middle-class life collapsed one by one:

Housing became unaffordable as Wall Street bought hundreds of thousands of homes, prices disconnected from incomes, and mortgages rose from 15% to 45% of income.

Healthcare costs exploded from 7% to 18% of GDP, making medical bankruptcy the leading cause of financial ruin.

Education costs surged from $400 per year to $28,000, creating $1.7 trillion in student debt that cannot be discharged in bankruptcy.

Retirement security was destroyed when pensions were replaced with inadequate 401(k)s, forcing millions to work into their 70s.

Meanwhile, taxes on the wealthy were slashed, starving public services and forcing the middle class to privately pay for housing, healthcare, education, and retirement. Corporate profits doubled as a share of GDP, while labor’s share fell.

Today, the top 1% owns 32% of all wealth, the top 10% owns 67%, and the bottom 50% owns just 3%. Younger generations are poorer than their parents, and upward mobility has collapsed.

This was not a failure of capitalism — it was the result of decades of policy choices that favored capital over labor.

The middle class wasn’t outcompeted.
It was dismantled — by design.