Targeted advertising is about determining and giving people exactly what they need. If successful, this increases consumption and grows the productivity of the economy. It's an extremely meaningful job as it allows for precise, effective distribution of resources.

In practice you're just selling shittier or unnecessary stuff. Advertising makes society objectively worse.

The "stability in CPI" after the gold depeg in the 70s is also when wages stopped growing in real terms. Most "wealth creation" since that date is on paper.

> The "stability in CPI" after the gold depeg in the 70s is also when wages stopped growing in real terms.

The depeging occurred in 1971:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nixon_shock

the CPI didn't start going crazy until the mid- to late-1970s:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_oil_crisis

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1979_oil_crisis

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supply_shock

though there was a rising amount before any of those events:

* https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/great-inflation

You'll find that real wages in the US were fairly steady for most of the 1970s, falling mostly at the end, and really dropping during the 1980s:

* https://www.factcheck.org/2019/06/are-wages-rising-or-flat/

most wealth creation being on paper is because labor stopped getting paid and capital saw all the growth

kinda like how despite all of the inflation the average person only saw a 3% increase in actual take homes while the hyperwealthy saw 300% (of much, much larger numbers).

it ain't gold, it's greed