For more than forty years, the American economy has grown steadily. Workers have gotten more productive, companies have gotten more efficient, and the country has generated enormous wealth. But almost none of those gains have gone to the people who created them.

Economists now estimate that about $50 trillion has shifted from the bottom 90% of Americans to the wealthiest 1% since the late 1970s. If pay had kept up with productivity, the average worker would be earning roughly $42,000 more every year. That money wasn’t lost — it moved upward.

And that shift didn’t just happen. It was the result of choices made over decades.

Beginning in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, a set of policies reshaped the U.S. economy:

• Union membership was pushed down, weakening workers’ ability to negotiate fair wages.

• Major industries consolidated, giving big corporations more power over wages, prices, and working conditions.

• Tax laws were rewritten to favor wealth over work — rewarding investors and high earners far more than the people actually producing value.

• And the economy shifted toward financialization, where profits came from speculation instead of real work.

As productivity grew and grew, workers simply stopped sharing in the gains. CEOs, shareholders, and the ultra-wealthy pocketed the difference.

This redistribution isn’t just something economists talk about, it shows up in the daily lives of working people:

• Families priced out of housing in their own communities

• People juggling multiple jobs just to cover basic expenses

• Child care and public schools straining without the staffing or funding they need

• Medical debt rising even as the healthcare industry reports record profits

• Burnout in the public sector because agencies can’t hire or keep enough workers

Meanwhile, billionaire wealth has skyrocketed. Corporate profits are at historic highs. The stock market climbs, even as food, rent, and car insurance eat away more and more of workers’ paychecks.

Most people didn’t fall behind — they were pushed behind. Their share of economic growth was diverted upward by policies that rewarded concentrated wealth and weakened worker power.

A $50 trillion shift drains the middle class. It destabilizes communities. It erodes trust in government and democracy. When people work hard and still can’t get ahead, the system feels rigged because in many ways, it has been.

Nothing about this is inevitable. The same tools that shifted wealth upward can be used to rebalance the economy:

• Rebuilding strong unions so workers have real bargaining power

• Fixing the tax code so the ultra-wealthy pay what they should

• Investing in public services, which benefit everyone and support the workers who keep society running

• Strengthening labor standards, from overtime rules to wage boards

Workers create the wealth of this country. They always have. And they deserve a fair share of what they produce.

The $50 trillion figure is a reminder of what was taken — and a reminder that we can win it back. An economy built by millions of working people should work for them, not just for a handful of billionaires.