[lbo-talk] question for those who remember the 70s

[Carrol Cox]

I remember vividly one column in Newsweek by "Paul Samuelson." (I never
knew whether he was THE Paul Samuelson or someone with the same name.)
The column defended the inflation on the grounds that if workers had
their pay reduced by that much "blood would run in the streets," but it
was possible to bring about the same reduction through inflated prices
without  encountering such resistance. I've never seen any discussion of
that aspectd of the stagflation.

Rick Wolf of Amherst has one repeated figure he organizes everything he
has to say around. From 1830 to 1970 in everey single decade the median
wage rose -- even in the 1930s, when prices fell faster than wages. But
since 1970 he says the median wage has been lower each decade.

Carrol