Re:Reddit's GameStop, AMC surge is the new Occupy movement
by sokoloff on Thursday January 28, 2021 @10:58AM
(#25943864)
It's not at all clear to me that 1979 is even the best reference year to pick. It looks to me like the trend lines broke in 1973-1975, but by the nature of this type of chart, careful choice in starting year can provide a chart that suggests a different break point. (It's probably better to think of these as "fuzzy" lines, which are 10% starting in each of 1946, 1947...1955.)
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Re:Reddit's GameStop, AMC surge is the new Occupy movement
by nostrademons on Thursday January 28, 2021 @12:09PM
(#25944989)
Yeah, 1973 is a much better reference year. Both because that's what the data actually says, and because there was a very clear cause: inflation. 1973 was the year of the oil crisis, the year that fixed exchange rates under Bretton Woods became floating exchange rates, and the year that the 1970s inflation happened.
Inflation doesn't affect all professions equally. Differentiated professions (those where there's only a limited supply of workers, and a limited number of positions) can bargain for higher wages, because there's nobody else that can take the job if you don't. The common people can't, because that's what it means to be common: you are easily replaceable. Hence when inflation hits, the upper classes capture the vast majority of the new money and new wealth created, while the lower classes get stuck with the same nominal wage, which purchases far less.