Excellent piece by Paul Krugman.

For Richer
By PAUL KRUGMAN

Daily experience confirmed the sense of a fairly equal society. The economic disparities you were conscious of were quite muted. Highly educated professionals -- middle managers, college teachers, even lawyers -- often claimed that they earned less than unionized blue-collar workers. Those considered very well off lived in split-levels, had a housecleaner come in once a week and took summer vacations in Europe. But they sent their kids to public schools and drove themselves to work, just like everyone else.

But that was long ago. The middle-class America of my youth was another country.
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Tom Tomorrow adds some valuable to comments to the above.

Struggling with the inexplicable

…or, um, does it have anything to do with the fact that this time period coincides exactly with the rise and fall of organized labor?
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