In the later 1980s the complaints were that everything was made in Hong Kong and Japan. I saw this and it reminded me of notagain's brain.
Reagan starting the tax cutting for the rich,deregulation,union busting and massive military spending,massive deficits was detrimental as well.They wasn't a major debt and deficit problem before him.Bush followed his lead and had the first trillion dollar deficit.Trump followed his lead and had the first 2 trillion dollar deficit.
Run out of TSLA dealerships to torch in your locale? But don't let me hurt your feelings with this post. We wouldn't want our chief snowflake wannabe vigilante here at ET to melt.
Mainly the end of the USA's free ride on the back of WWII came with Nixon’s decision to end the Bretton Woods system, which had run from 1946 to 1973. Often referred to as the "Golden Age of Capitalism," this system had already begun to break down by the late 1960s. Nixon started ending it in 1971. The collapse of Bretton Woods, driven by excessive U.S. spending (Vietnam, "Great Societiy" social programs of LBJ) and an overvalued dollar, led to the adoption of floating exchange rates, introducing significant currency instability. The U.S. abandonment of the gold standard further fueled inflationary pressures, which were then dramatically worsened by the oil crisis. This period of stagflation and increasing reliance on debt laid the foundation for financialization, the growing dominance of financial markets, which ultimately led to wage stagnation and rising inequality. Many who advocate for a return to the gold standard do so out of frustration with inflation, currency instability, and mounting debt. However, the very factors that caused the gold standard to collapse, economic growth outpacing gold supply, global trade imbalances, and the need for flexible monetary policy, are even more pronounced today, making a return impractical.