I would like to buy an argument?

[Terrance]

Orwell was no prophet. He died in 1950 and he didn't get to see what the
Great  Post War Boom would produce. Pynchon, of course, got to see it
all. Got to see it explode in America. But P was kinda typical middle
class American boy. He wasn't born into the working class and he didn't
seem to know much about the working class struggle or race for that
matter until the early sixties. Even then, his view labor is
conservative (V., his father was a political man in Nassau County NY)
and his view of race is a bit naive. 

A slow learner indeed.  


In 1947, the United States had by far the world's most productive and
prosperous economy. With six percent of the world's population, it had
produced 50 percent of the world's manufactured goods, 57 percent of its
steel, 62 percent of its oil, and over 80 percent of its cars. The
average American made 15 times as much as the average European. Yet many
Americans looked forward to the future with anxiety. Many Americans
feared that the end of heavy wartime spending would future would bring a
return to depression.  Post-war labor strife and
inflation contributed to a sense of foreboding. Americans had saved $44
billion during World war II and pent up demand caused inflation to soar.
By 1948, prices were 48 percent higher than in 1945. 

Adding to anxiety was a wave of labor strikes. In January 1946, the
automobile, electrical appliance, meatpacking, and steel workers went
out on strike. Congress responded to labor strife by enacting the
Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 over President Truman's veto. Opposed by
organized labor, the act restricted union activities such as mass
picketing and boycotts and let states pass "right to work" laws making
it illegal to require workers to join unions. It also allowed the
Attorney
General to seek court orders delaying for 80 days any strike endangering
public health or safety.