Going as far back in history as it's possible to go, economic activity has constantly undergone changes. In the distant past, crop abundance or scarcity depended on weather conditions. In the 1950s and 1960s, prosperity depended on what economists call "the virtuous circle."

This was a self-perpetuating prosperity created by a balance between the interests of owners, workers and consumers. It meant that owners could reap satisfactory profits while workers were paid satisfactory wages, which enabled them to buy those profitably produced goods, perpetuating the circle.

In this virtuous-circle economy, the average American father made enough to support a stay-at-home mother and children. Around 1970, economic activity indicated that this virtuous circle had been broken, and we were entering a new, transformative time economically.

The Astrological Explanation

The accompanying chart shows what was happening astrologically as this transformation was seeded and developed.

The inner wheel shows a birth chart for the U.S. It assumes that our Founding Fathers finalized their decision to establish a new nation in the wee hours of July 4, 1776, a time astrologers continue to debate.

This transformation of the economy was seeded back in the 1960s, when, as shown on the middle wheel, Pluto and Uranus came conjunct in Virgo, with both conjunct the U.S. natal Neptune-square-Mars configuration. This is a very sensitive economic aspect in the U.S. chart.

During the virtuous circle economy years, from the late 1940s into the early 1960s, the transformative planets Pluto, Neptune and Uranus were out of major aspect or forming positive aspects with the U.S.' economically-sensitive planetary positions. This changed in 1965, with the Uranus-Pluto conjunction in Virgo.

Changes and Surprises

By the oil embargo of 1974, shown on the outer wheel of the triwheel chart, Neptune had moved into an opposition with the U.S. Uranus and Gemini Ascendant, while transiting Uranus at 24 Libra squared the U.S. Mercury at 24 Cancer. Pluto's trine to the U.S. Ascendant from 4 Libra didn't help, because at this point Pluto was also square the U.S. Jupiter in the Second House, called "the house of money."

By 1989, a transiting conjunction of Saturn, Uranus and Neptune in Capricorn formed an opposition with the U.S. Sun in Cancer, and the American economy bifurcated, showing definite movement in opposite directions. Corporations restructured and downsized, and stocks began a rise that, except for a few glitches, lasted through the 1990s. Meanwhile, working class Americans discovered, family by family, that it now took two paychecks to make ends meet.

The Solar System Clock

In brief, the virtuous circle economy declined and the new global economy arose as Pluto, Neptune and Uranus moved around the zodiac into adverse aspects with the U.S.' most sensitive points economically: the U.S. Gemini Ascendant, Mars-square-Neptune and Sun-square-Saturn. The slowest-moving hands of the solar system clock moved from reading “good times” to “mixed times.”

From an economic perspective, what broke the virtuous circle is still debated. In the old industrial economy, mass-produced products kept the prosperity rolling. By around 1970, the economy was in a new era of cheap imports, triggering the urge to work smarter and customize products to meet increased competition. As profits were squeezed, owners of capital were forced to cut back wages.

Another Explanation

Another version of what happened is that owners stopped sharing gains with workers when they discovered they could do so. Owners acquired the power to weaken labor's bargaining position by funding politicians and political causes. This was seen as a more efficient way to use profits.

The Rust Belt is the term now used to describe what was left in the wake of this migration.

Soon, dad could not support mom and kids by himself, and wives went to work. Eventually, a husband and wife team might have four or more jobs between them and still not be able to make ends meet.

The Economy Goes Global

Corporate managers argue that they were not to blame for this "increase in the number of jobs" and concurrent decrease in the average family's quality of life. Corporate managers were driven by global forces beyond their control and had to adapt to the post-industrial world, in which a greater variety of products, imported cars and other goods flooded American showrooms and stores.

The computer revolution began in the early 1980s as Uranus moved opposite the U.S. Gemini Ascendant and natal Uranus. Transiting Uranus is now in Aquarius, forming a beneficial trine aspect to the U.S. planets in Gemini, and American companies producing electronics and cyberspace products are thriving. As Uranus inches into Pisces in 2004 and 2005, a new time will show on the solar system clock, and a new economic phase will begin.

Getting More for Less

Most moms no longer stay home with children in this new global economy. In Silicon Valley, rents are so high some workers sleep on public buses after rubbing elbows all day with dozens of new millionaires. Families with enough income send their little ones to daycare centers. The inability of many parents to afford daycare is a worldwide problem.

Even among young professionals, more money results in less leisure and amenities. Instead of waving goodbye to the kids and communing with nature while they stroll to work as their counterparts in the 1950s did, today's young, upwardly mobile frantically drop off their kids at a costly daycare, rush into traffic jams and jabber into cell phones.

Yet, collectively, we are much better off at the dawn of this new cyber age than we were at the dawn of the industrial age, when children worked beside both parents in mills and factories.

The solution to new problems brought by time and/or ever-changing planetary configurations is the same: new ways to create the virtuous circle are needed. And history indicates we will find these new ways to balance and harmony.