The U. S. economy in those years was good. Then where did this good economy go? It was inflated away. The price of gold, which I take as proxy for the prices of all goods, was $35 an ounce in those years. It is at roughly ten times that price today.
There is another answer, though: inflation caused the entire work force to be moved into higher tax groups, thus reducing after-tax purchasing power. That is, my fathers bindery job in1954 paid $82 a week, with $80 after deductions; today, at $ 820 per week the net would be $662.
To ordinary people, the economy doesnt look very good at all. After-tax incomes continue to decrease in purchasing power. The jobs offered in the employment ads pay only a little more than the minimum wage, maybe $5 an hour, which, after payroll deductions, yields $4 an hour. Compare that with minimum-wage jobs of the early 1950s, when 75 cents was worth todays $7.50 before and after taxes.
Notes
1 Brooklyn: a district of New York city
2 inflate:通货膨胀
3 proxy: the authority to act for another
4 payroll: a list of employees and the wages due to each
Reading Comprehension
In the authors opinion, a good economy, to ordinary people can be expressed in terms of ______
the amount of wage
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