[halleonard]

Google "productivity vs labor graph". In the US at least, the "tremendous labor to be done" is a lie that keeps grows each and every year.

[sedeki]

Wow - what happened in 1974? Something that has to do with the gold standard?

[phaemon]

Nope, oil. It was the 1973 oil crisis, which led to prices quadrupling. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_oil_crisis

[tonyedgecombe]

The oil crisis? Followed by Thatcher and Reagan? Arrival of the shipping container?

[sedeki]

Nixon famously took the US, and thus the world, off the gold standard in 1971, effectively giving the Fed a carte blanche to print money.

To me this alone would explain the flatness. I sense some sarcasm in your comment - maybe it doesn’t to you.

[phaemon]

Oh, right, you think you know the answer already. Coincidentally, in the collection of essays "In Praise of Idleness" the fourth one is called, "The Modern Midas", written in 1932. You might enjoy it.

[sedeki]

My first post to start this whole discussion was me genuinely asking. I am not claiming I know the answer. I am not a native English speaker.

Do you mind giving me a link to the essay?

[phaemon]

My apologies then; I thought you sounded like one of these gold standard fanatics that are all over.

I couldn't find the essay on the web, but it's in the book https://www.amazon.com/Praise-Idleness-Other-Essays/dp/00430... which is well worth reading.

[tonyedgecombe]

I sense some sarcasm in your comment

That wasn't my intention.

[fallous]

Except that the parent specifically stated "the world" and not "the US."