Comment by doctorpangloss

Hmm, the story with the wedge graph on that article is well known, the wedge began with the 1973 end of Bretton Woods, and essentially median hourly wage has different meaning on either side of it. This is also why this happened in many countries, not just the USA.

There's no "going back" to Bretton Woods, its design failed, it wasn't just a political decision. Generally though, what I don't like about Hacker News is that when you reply to something that makes space for fringe or pithy explanations for things, it's impossible to sound grounded, so people interested in this can start with a succinct article here: https://www.riksbank.se/en-gb/about-the-riksbank/history/his...