....peak was 1968, GTO was car of the year, 1969 was year for the GTO JUDGE, an orange cartoon-like car, beginning of the end.... just my theory....
Yeah that's about right, for the average worker. Check how the number of long term unemployed has risen steadily since around 1970: http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/LNS13025703?cid=32451 If this goes into a secular downtrend, then the average worker will again begin to be better off. Note how in the cycle just before this one the trough in this stat was way higher, which with 20/20 hindsight was a clear signal we were heading into truly rough waters.