&gt; Since deregulation and anti-union forces ascended in 1980&#x27;s, at least in the U.S. most of the population&#x27;s income has stagnated.<p>Correlation != causation. Besides, people today live longer and healthier than in the 50&#x27;s and the 60&#x27;s. Even in the late 80&#x27;s, middle class people could barely afford a tv and even less so a microwave, now many people even in the lower classes have a smartphone, microwaves, laptops, flat tvs, travel more and cheaper thanks to flights deregulation etc. Free market has been so efficient that people now have better lives than they used to for cheaper, which explains why incomes haven&#x27;t gone up that much as it hasn&#x27;t been needed. It&#x27;s a proven fact that the world has never been as peaceful, wealthy, well off and advanced as ever despite supposedly evil deregulation and free market.