Americans in the bottom 90% saw their average incomes increase a meager $47 a year between 1974 and 2007.
Yes, back then in 1974, we certainly did face injustice at every turn. But we were living, thanks to years of struggle—and success—by our activist forebears, in a society where politics actually revolved around confronting those injustices and making change that could really help average working people.