The end of World War Two coincided with the bouncing baby birth of America’s middle class.

Most Europeans were weaned on the canned products of the American entertainment industry.

Many Europeans aspired to reach American living standards, to share their abundant confidence, upon which it seemed the sun would never set. What happened?

America reaped the reward of its victory; it seemed their middle classes could be assured of a lifestyle equalled only by Sweden, Luxembourg or Switzerland.

Sadly, America’s biggest export has since been jobs; most manufactured goods, as in the case of the United Kingdom, were subcontracted abroad.

No way could the white- and blue-collar classes compete with the far lower-paid employees of Far Eastern workshops.  

According to U.S. Representative Betty Sutton, America lost an average of 15 manufacturing facilities every day. By 2010, this figure reached 23 factories a day.

The haemorrhage of lost jobs coincided with a rate of inflation. This outstripped growth in wages and tens of millions of comfortably off Americans sank below overwhelming debt.  Since 1971, consumer debt has risen by 1700%.

The number seeking financial assistance from government agencies has spiked, but has further to go. More Americans fell into poverty than ever before, and the trend is accelerating.

Living costs across the board have risen astronomically. The American tourist is an endangered species, though many entrepreneurial Americans are making a good living elsewhere in the world.

If you think the economy in Greece, Germany or the UK is depressing, then you will identify with America’s problems.

Only 55.3% of United States citizens between the ages of 16 and 29 are employed. The working population of the U.S. is 240 million but 100 million of them are unemployed.

Since 2000, millions of middle-class Americans have learned to adapt to a hand-to-mouth Skid Row existence.

For those who like statistics, according to the New York Times, 100 million Americans are either living in ‘the poverty zone’ or what is known as ‘the fretful zone.’ We call it nail-biting; what you do when the bills landing on the doormat exceed your income.

As so often, when it is every man for himself, the elderly and the young suffer most.

34% of elderly Americans live in or near poverty; 39% of children live in equal distress. Another casualty is the U.S. housing market. As recently as 2006, the housing stock was valued at 22.7 trillion. Since then, $6.5 trillion disappeared.

Many former iconic manufacturing cities, such as Detroit, Pittsburgh, and Dayton in Arizona now resemble ghost towns.

Mile after mile vandalised, shuttered commercial buildings; their epitaphs scrawled in graffiti.

These cities’ populations have shrunk by 50%, and 18.9% of homes lie empty without much chance of a buyer.

Ironic perhaps that today the world’s image of the United States is not that of a carefree middle-class lifestyle but a buoyant arms industry that reduces other parts of the world to resemble something like today’s Detroit.

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THE GOOD LIFE IN THE REICH. Mike Walsh: FORBIDDEN HISTORY: The standard of living in Hitler’s Third Reich surpassed that of the developed world. German workers enjoyed a lifestyle comparable to that of movie stars. Germany led the world in fashion, medicine, cinema, lifestyle, manufacturing, transport infrastructure, public facilities, cutting-edge science, healthcare and education. Amazon removed Life in the Reich. The book dared to show Hitler’s Germany as it was. It did not follow what the propagandists would have us believe. A real eye-opener: https://barnesreview.org/product/life-in-the-reich-hitlers-germany-1933-1945