From the Post-War Boom to a New Gilded Age by Henry Mantel
After World War II, the United States experienced an economic boom. Years of rationing created an American population that was hungry for luxury goods . While the rest of the world was focusing on rebuilding, America was producing and consuming. Workers in America were in a strong bargaining position. The GI Bill gave returning veterans access to higher education, low-priced loans, and healthcare. Labor unions made sure that workers were receiving a fair share of the country's new wealth. In 1965, nearly a third of US workers belonged to a union . Between 1945 and 1975, American wages increased at roughly the same rate as productivity. Even among the richest Americans, excessive wealth was considered immoral. The average CEO made twenty times the amount the average worker did. Mitt Romney's father once said, "no executive needed to make more than $225,000 (about $1.4 million in today’s dollars) ." In 1955, Forbes wrote an article describing the "avera