Is this what really inspires MAGA?

 

When this unprepossessing graph floated by in my media feed, I had an aha-moment. Apparently white American men's fraction of the income pie was highest in 1960 -- and ever since their segment of our economic prosperity has been declining. That doesn't mean white guys are earning or owning less in real terms. Most everybody is doing a lot better than in 1960 in a much larger economy that has seen repeated bouts of goods-inflation (troublesome) and higher wages (all positive). But relative portions taken home by different segments have changed.

 

So even though white men in this country, in general, are doing just fine, in the last 60 years changes in society have meant they've had to share their prosperity with white women and everyone else.

 

The chart is from a Medium post by Joe Francis.  Here's some of what he has to say about it, slightly edited:

White men’s position in the class structure has diminished considerably.

According to the census and the American Communities Survey (ACS), the median income of white men aged 18 and above fell from a peak of 264 percent of the national level in 1960 to 143 percent in 2023.

White men’s share of national income has similarly fallen dramatically. Figure 1 shows their share falling from 70 percent in 1960 to 43 percent in 2020, and it fell further to 41 percent in 2023.

There has thus been a historic shift in the income distribution away from white men toward non-white and female Americans. …

Non-college educated white men, meanwhile, are being left behind. ... the era of white male egalitarianism is long a thing of the past.

... inequality has surged for white men, even as the overall level has remained largely unchanged.  ...

As a class, [white men] have seen their privileges diminish due to the prohibition of racism and sexism, although the college-educated have prospered thanks to the greater education premium.

By 2045, even if Trump succeeds in throwing out millions of immigrants, the majority of Americans will not be what we currently describe as "white". (Racial categories can be mutable, subject to income, prejudice, and fashion, but that's another post.) He can't turn back the clock. The era of white America is over. We already live that in California; Texas and Florida do too, but haven't adjusted yet. MAGA diehards will eventually live in reality; Americans have survived such shifts before.

Ran across this paper thanks to Adam Tooze.