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8. The Big Stretch. Rising incomes among a small group of Americans led to that group breaking away in lifestyle. They bought bigger homes, nicer cars, went to expensive schools, and took fancy vacations.

The details of their shouting are different, but they’re all shouting – at least in part – because stuff isn’t working for them within the context of the post-war expectation that stuff should work roughly the same for roughly everyone.

9. Once a paradigm is in place it is very hard to turn it around.

But they’re symptomatic of the bigger thing that’s happened since the early 1980s: The economy works better for some people than others. Success isn’t as meritocratic as it used to be and, when success is granted, is rewarded with higher gains than in previous eras.

6. Things start cracking.

Helpful criticism is about making the world better. Unhelpful criticism is about making yourself feel better.

10. The Tea Party, Occupy Wall Street, Brexit, and the rise of Donald Trump each represents a group shouting, “Stop the ride, I want off.”

7. The boom resumes, but it’s different than before. Between 1993 and 2012, the top 1 percent saw their incomes grow 86.1 percent, while the bottom 99 percent saw just 6.6 percent growth.

You can scoff at linking the rise of Trump to income inequality alone. And you should. These things are always layers of complexity deep. But it’s a key part of what drives people to think, “I don’t live in the world I expected. That pisses me off. So screw this. And screw you! I’m going to fight for something totally different, because this – what... See more