They declared war. They launched the first attack. Now, here is the loot. These are the numbers that prove you were robbed.
A heist has a scoreboard. After the robbery, you don’t argue about theories. You count what’s missing.
For fifty years, we’ve been told a story: that your struggle is a personal failure. That the economy is just “evolving.” That the system is broken.
The system is not broken. It was picked clean.
The following numbers are the evidence. This is the financial autopsy of the American Dream.
CRIME #1: THE GREAT WAGE THEFT
- The Promise (1947-1973): Historically, there existed a fundamental agreement between labor and capital, often referred to as the social contract, which dictated that for every 1% increase in the economic value generated by a worker (their productivity), their compensation would also rise by a corresponding 1%. This reciprocal relationship was widely perceived as equitable, ensuring that the benefits of increased efficiency and output were shared fairly between those who contributed their labor and those who provided the means of production. This arrangement fostered a sense of shared prosperity, where workers could reasonably expect their efforts to translate directly into an improved standard of living.
- The Heist (1973-Today): This pivotal agreement, which once promised a fair exchange between labor and reward, was systematically dismantled. The consequences have been stark and undeniable. Since 1973, the productivity of the American worker has soared, demonstrating an increase of over 65%. This remarkable surge in output, a testament to dedication and innovation, has not been met with a commensurate rise in compensation. In sharp contrast, the inflation-adjusted pay for these same workers has stagnated, growing by less than 10% over the same period. This widening chasm between productivity and pay reveals a fundamental shift in the economic landscape, where the gains of increased efficiency are no longer equitably shared, leading to a significant erosion of the American worker’s economic standing.
- The Takedown: They convinced you to work harder, smarter, faster. You did. You delivered 65% more value. And they paid you almost nothing for it. All that extra wealth you created—the trillions of dollars—was stolen directly from your paycheck.
This wasn’t a natural progression of the economy; it was a deliberate strategy, a silent war declared on the American worker. For decades, a systematic dismantling of labor protections, a weakening of unions, and a fervent push for “efficiency” paved the way for this grand heist. Companies reaped record profits, executives received astronomical bonuses, and shareholders saw their portfolios swell, all while the average worker’s wages stagnated or barely kept pace with inflation.
The promise was always the same: if you just pushed a little harder, if you adopted the latest productivity tools, if you embraced the “gig economy,” you would share in the prosperity. But that promise was a mirage. The “trickle-down” never reached the bottom. Instead, the wealth flowed upwards, concentrating in the hands of a select few, leaving the vast majority struggling to keep up with rising living costs, dwindling benefits, and an ever-increasing sense of precarity. The American Dream, once built on the bedrock of fair labor and a path to upward mobility, began to erode, replaced by a new reality where hard work no longer guaranteed a fair share of the bounty. This was the first offensive, and the American worker, unknowingly, bore the brunt of the assault.
CRIME #2: THE CEO PAY EXPLOSION....
The Powell Memo declared the war. The Volcker Shock was the first battle. And these numbers—your stagnant paycheck, their exploding bonuses, your vanished pension—are the territory they conquered.
