The New York Times has a graphic comparing the outcomes of economic policy in the US, specifically comparing the broadly social democratic policies prevalent between 1847 and 1979, and the NeoLiberal policies since 1980. The differences are astounding. Between 1947 and 1979, growth benefited everyone; wages rose with productivity, and everyone's income rose by roughly the same proportion. Since 1980, productivity has continued to increase, but wages have stagnated, with the result that only the wealthy have benefited. As for the top 1%, they've made out like bandits, with their share of the wealth returning to Gilded Age levels. As for everyone else, they've been pushed into working harder and borrowing more just to make ends meet.
Its an appalling visual indictment of NeoLiberalism. But what I'd love to see is a similar graphic for New Zealand, so we can see whether its had the same effect here.
