>not sure the comparison is apples to apples

More like apples to octopus.

People should keep in mind that there was no such thing as a GDP before the 1980's.

All that has been back-calculated, and the further back you go the more ridiculous it gets.

Excuses sounded plausible at the time but killed two birds with one stone.

Less rapid increase in government benefits which had become based on GNP for survival to cope with inflation, and further obscuring the ongoing poor economic performance of the 1980's going forward compared to how it was before 1970 numerically.

The people who were numerically smart before that and saw what things were like first hand were not fooled so easily.

Even using GDP back in the 1980's when it first came out, you couldn't get a good picture of the 1960's which were not that much earlier.

Don't make me laugh trying for the 1860's :)