The Mad Men 1960s America - where average families dominated the consumer market - has totally disappeared, this Ad Age New Wave of Affluence study details. And Madison Avenue has moved on - to where the money sits.
And that money does not sit in average American pockets. The global economic recession, Ad Age relates, has thrown "a spotlight on the yawning divide between the richest Americans and everyone else."
Taking inflation into account, Ad Age goes on to explain, the "incomes of most American workers have remained more or less static since the 1970s," while "the income of the rich (and the very rich) has grown exponentially."
Billie Holiday summed up our situation with profoundly simple lyrics and a deep sadness in her voice:
The Koch Brothers, their little helpers on the right and the populist phonies on the left, will all sleep well tonight.
