I would add, start your base year in 1968 rather than ’78, otherwise you miss out on the ’70s “stagflation.” Then there is the “grade inflation,” which can be explained to some extent by the educational draft deferment. Because of the draft, male enrollments exceeded females by up to 30 percent in 1970–females were exempt from the draft and Selective Service registration . Forty years later those gender ratios are reversed and now some people talk about the need for poor white male college affirmative action programs! Hell, bring back the Vietnam era draft and those gender ratios should straighten right out! Those Michael Moore celebrity types are not really interested in being conscripted “freedom fighters” to prevent the on going genocide in Darfur. Gee, strange, now that Obama’s the president there is no mention of Darfur!