The USA had gotten its prosperity, and in the postwar period, the United States consolidated its position as the world 's richest country. Other countries were jealous of seeing the growth of United States. America’s growth gradually increased from 1960 to 1973. At one time, they had about 40% of the world’s wealth. This whole thing had transformed the lives of the majority of the citizens and molded the agenda of politics and the society for two more generations. This expansion helped America in the Civil Rights Movements, funded the new welfare program like Medicare, and gave the citizens confidence to exercise unprecedented international leadership in the Cold War era. People started to marching together and earned more than that they had during the great depression. The size of the middle class had doubled from pre-Depression days. In few years, people had owned their cars, washing machines, and Televisions. A post-war era came as a blessing for women. The public offices started giving employment to female workers. The majority of the jobs created in that time went to women. (P: 179-180) The second major demographic expansion of USA was Baby Boom. There was a huge leap in the birth rate in 1960. Many people became married after the war. By the end of 1950, 50 million babies were born. The baby boom also opened doors to new markets. When there were toddlers in …show more content…
The cheap energy was a key object in US economy. American and European companies controlled the flow of abundant petroleum from the sandy expanses of the Middle East. Anticipating a limitless future of low-cost fuels, they flung out endless ribbons of highway, installed air-conditioning in their homes and engineered a sixfold increase in the country’s electricity generating capacity between 1945 to 1970. During this time, the productivity grew at an average rate of more than 3 percent per year. The rising educational level of the workforce also improved the Gain in Productivity. By 1970, nearly 90 percent of the school-age population was enrolled in schools. American workers in 1970 could produce almost twice as much in an hour as they had in 1950. With the help of mechanization and the new fertilizers as well as the government subsidies and price supports, one farmer by the century 's end could produce food for over fifty people compared with about 15 individuals in the 1940s. Farmers had started doing farming with air-conditioned tractors. (P: 180,