The Receipts
Names. Dates. Votes. Federal Register numbers.
TL;DR
Not conspiracy—public record. SEC Rule 10b-18 (1982): stock buybacks. Tax Reform Act § 469 (1986): killed apartment construction. Gramm-Leach-Bliley (1999): repealed Glass-Steagall. China PNTR (2000): offshoring. BAPCPA (2005): permanent student debt. Each decision bipartisan. Each cost borne by people not at the table.
"This is not a conspiracy theory. Conspiracies are hidden. This is public record."
What follows are the decisions that broke the American deal. Each one has a date. Each one has names attached. Each was made openly, debated publicly, documented officially.
The problem is not that these decisions were secret. The problem is that the people who made them did not bear the costs.
The Timeline
September 13, 1970
Friedman Doctrine
Milton Friedman publishes "The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits" in the NYT Magazine. Becomes intellectual foundation for shareholder primacy.
Prediction: Shareholder primacy would drive efficiency → prosperity.
Result: Corporate profits: 7% → 9% of GDP. Wages: 62% → 60% of GDP. Efficiency appeared in profits. Not in wages.
August 5, 1981
Air Traffic Controllers
Reagan fires 11,345 striking air traffic controllers. Signal: government will not protect organizing workers.
Result: Major work stoppages: 381 (1970) → 17 (1999) → 11 (2010). The credible threat that forced management to share gains evaporated.
November 17, 1982
SEC Rule 10b-18
Creates safe harbor for stock buybacks. Before: legally questionable as market manipulation. After: immunity.
Result: Buybacks: $6.6B (1980) → $200B (2000) → $1T+ (2018). The SEC has never brought a manipulation charge. Not once.
October 22, 1986
Tax Reform Act § 469
Creates passive activity loss rules killing tax-advantaged investment in rental housing.
Vote: House 292-136, Senate 74-23. Bipartisan.
Result: Multifamily housing starts collapsed 74%: 670,000 (1985) → 175,000 (1991-92). Pipeline froze for two decades.
1993
Section 162(m)
Caps deductibility of executive compensation at $1 million—but exempts "performance-based" compensation like stock options.
Prediction: Intended to constrain executive pay.
Result: Companies shifted to stock options. CEO compensation: $2.9M (1992) → $9.3M (2001). Law meant to constrain pay accelerated it.
November 12, 1999
Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act
Repeals Glass-Steagall's separation of commercial and investment banking.
Vote: Senate 90-8, House 362-57. Bipartisan.
Result: Banks merged with investment banks. Nine years later: the financial crisis.
September 19, 2000
China PNTR
Permanent Normal Trade Relations with China. Enabled offshoring.
Vote: Senate 83-15, House 237-197.
Prediction: Rep. Matsui: "This is a hundred-to-nothing deal for America."
Result: 3.7 million American jobs lost to China trade (EPI). Manufacturing regions → opioid prescriptions and disability claims.
December 8, 2003
Medicare Modernization Act
Creates Part D drug coverage. Explicitly prohibits Medicare from negotiating drug prices with pharma companies.
Result: The largest drug purchaser in the world forbidden by statute from using purchasing power. Pharma: most lobbying $ of any industry.
April 20, 2005
BAPCPA
Extends non-dischargeability to private student loans.
Vote: Senate 74-25, House 302-126. Bipartisan.
Result: Student debt became inescapable. Total outstanding: $1.77 trillion. 43 million borrowers.
2012
Invitation Homes
Blackstone creates Invitation Homes. Begins purchasing foreclosed single-family homes in bulk.
Result: Institutional investors: 0 (2010) → 500,000+ single-family rentals (2023). The landlord class reconstituted in corporate form.
The Pattern
- 1.Each decision was bipartisan.
- 2.Each was presented as technical reform, simplification, efficiency, free markets, fairness.
- 3.Each was made by people who did not experience the consequences.
The workers in Youngstown did not write the Federal Reserve's policy memos. The renters priced out of ownership did not draft Section 469. The families who lost bidding wars to Blackstone did not sit on the SEC.
The decisions were rational for the people who made them. The executives, the shareholders, the consultants, the legislators—each responded to incentives. Each made choices that served their interests. Each was rewarded.
The costs fell elsewhere. The costs fell on people who had no seat at the table. The costs fell on people not yet born.
Not Conspiracy. Structure.
Conspiracy
- • Hidden
- • Secret meetings
- • Coordinated plan
- • Requires villains
Structure
- • Public record
- • Federal Register numbers
- • Each actor pursuing rational interest
- • Requires only incentives
No cabal met in secret to design this system. No memo circulated with the plan.
The structure produced the outcome. Each actor pursuing their rational interest. Each decision following from the incentives in place. Each consequence falling on someone other than the decision-maker.
This is not a story of villains. It is a story of a system that separated decisions from consequences, that rewarded extraction and punished production, that allowed the people who broke the deal to capture the gains while the people who kept the deal bore the losses.
The receipts exist.
Federal Register
numbers
Vote counts
documented
Outcomes
measured
Names
attached
The question is what we do now that we know.
See the Solution →Frequently Asked Questions
What policies caused wage stagnation and inequality?
Documented decisions: SEC Rule 10b-18 (1982) enabling stock buybacks, Tax Reform Act Section 469 (1986) killing apartment construction, Gramm-Leach-Bliley (1999) repealing Glass-Steagall, China PNTR (2000) enabling offshoring, BAPCPA (2005) making student debt permanent. Each has names, dates, vote counts.
Is this a conspiracy theory?
No. Conspiracies are hidden. This is public record. Federal Register numbers. Congressional votes. SEC filings. The decisions were made openly, debated publicly, documented officially. The problem isn't secrecy. The problem is that decision-makers didn't bear the costs.
Were these policies bipartisan?
Yes. Every major policy was bipartisan. Tax Reform Act (1986): House 292-136, Senate 74-23. Gramm-Leach-Bliley (1999): Senate 90-8, House 362-57. China PNTR (2000): Senate 83-15. BAPCPA (2005): Senate 74-25, House 302-126. Neither party protected you.
Who benefited from these policies?
Shareholders, executives, private equity, institutional investors. Each policy was rational for its supporters. The extraction was structural—no one needed to intend harm. The incentives produced the outcome. The costs fell on people with no seat at the table.
Why didn't anyone stop this?
Each decision was presented as technical reform, simplification, efficiency, free markets, fairness. The people who made them didn't experience consequences. Youngstown workers didn't write Fed memos. Renters didn't draft Section 469. The costs fell elsewhere—on people not yet born.
