It was my understand that as a result of the boom created by the first and second industrial revolution the opportunity to create a growing and somewhat stable middle class was born.
I was also under the belief that in the 1970’s this wave started to peter out and to keep the wave moving the spouses entered the workforce to double or at least increase the household income.
It seems that my understanding is not every ones and that there are some who believe to that the American middle class is a myth.
Netscape creator Marc Andreessen is one of these people. He believes that the American middle class of the mid-20th century was an accident of history. Created as a result of the impact of World War II, where the industrialized world being bombed out of existence. “The one major industrial country that wasn’t bombed was the United States. So the United States became the monopoly producer of industrial goods.” However, by the late 1960s, Germany and Japan had rebuilt their economies and the middle class started to fall apart. “It was an accident of history.”
I have to admit that this is an interesting take on the situation. I cannot disagree whole heartedly, but I cannot refute it as a consequence.