There’s an odd website called WTF Happened in 1971? It’s a long stack of charts, gathered magpie-like from all manner of books and papers and articles, recording the many ways society began to tilt on its axis as the ’70s dawned. The most convincing of them are economic: starting in the ’70s, wages began to stagnate, inequality began to soar, inflation began to rise, and housing prices began their inexorable march upward. Our favorite of these charts shows how many years an average wage earner would presumably need to save to buy a home. In 1950, it’s 2.3 years. In 1960, it’s 2.6 years. In
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