Service Economy.

The 1980s saw the culmination of a long-standing trend in the American economy. Throughout most of the twentieth century, most workers had earned their living producing items in factories or working in other jobs related to manufacturing. By the mid 1980s, however, three-fourths of America's 113 million workers earned their living providing services. They were part of the growing service sector and a symptom of the transformation of the economy from an industrial economy to a service economy. Instead of manufacturing products such as automobiles, service workers provided information or performed tasks for customers. Occupations in the service sector varied widely, ranging from work in the fast-food industry, derided as "Mcjobs," to careers in such fields as computer programming, law, and medicine.

The Rich.

The decade saw the reversal of another long-term trend in the American economy. Since World War II...