So I just turned 34 and that got me thinking about what the country and the #economy was like when my dad turned 34 (1976)

Inflation, cost of goods and services, house/car prices, wealth for the rich, stock prices and CEO pay have far outpaced pay for workers

(Thread) /1

Inflation has risen over 350% in 45 years which means $100 today would be worth the same as $21.75 in 1976
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Minimum wage an hour
$2.30-$7.25 (215% increase) /3

infoplease.com/business/labor…

Some graphs on #UnionMembership in the US over the years.

Today union membership stands at 13% the lowest it’s been since world war 2

The rise of unions coincided with the rise of the US as a super power

The fall of unions coincided with the wealthiest 1% coming into power

https://twitter.com/gunstelly/status/1362480564565995522

The two apex’s of this graph at 1945 and 1995

The first being the US getting out of the depression and becoming a super power

The second being the US becoming a purely financial and consumer based economy

The inflection points of the graphs are

The supreme courts ruling on campaign finance in 1976 that essentially said money is speech and therefor there shouldn’t be any limits on campaign spending essentially giving rich people license to buy politicians

and......

On the left is Nominal GDP per capita

On the right is the countries w/ highest percentage of their workforce unionized

All 18 of the most unionized countries are in the top 27 of GDP per capita & no other nation in the top 27 by GDP has more than 10 million citizens
#Unionize

The #US has the largest economy based off having the 3rd largest population but it ranks 17th in percentage of labor force in #TradeUnions

Imagine the power of our economy if over half our work force was unionized?

Sweden with around 11 million citizens is the 91st largest country by population but 83% of its workforce is unionized so not only does it have the 22nd largest economy in the world by size it ranks 12th on GDP per Capita

Sweden also has the 11th highest average wage