The Postwar boom. Employment and workers' wages rise steadily along with corporate profits. But the government steps up environmental and social regulation, sparked by such episodes as Love Canal. Mike Milken cometh. Hoping to ward off hostile bids, employers start to slim down, asking workers to sacrifice in return for a later payback.
Workers generally accede.
The payback never arrives. Instead, globalization stokes the restructuring of American industry. Pat Buchanan and others ride the new antibusiness wave.