You're right about the Native Americans. In a week of pure villainy by the Supremes (may they rot in hell) they just stripped tribes of sovereignty rights on Indian land in Oklahoma.
It's incredible the villainy and entitlement of post-enlightenment Europeans, and that legacy has been carried on by the rest of us, unfortunately.
1973 was the peak of American society, at least for white people. It marked the end of a 25-year economic boom, and at that time, gains were distributed throughout society. The poor and middle class had steadily been making gains up until then. After that point, income inequality began to really take off
I would say the sweet spot to have been born is the early 40s. Too young for WWII and too old for Vietnam. You got to live through American dominance throughout the world. You had air travel, best health care in the world (penicillin had been discovered), rock music, two cars in every garage, a roaring economy, low interest rates, great job prospects, one income per family got the job done, the pill, and free love. When you vacationed in Europe, people still respected what our country had done for them versus the Germans. Globalization had not destroyed pensions and early retirement and American manufacturing, you had social security and medicare. We could have used statins and better blood pressure medicine, but a widow maker heart attack was quick and decisive better way to go than most.
It all depends on your personal circumstances such as brains, education, location, race, sex, family resources, and others.
1973 was the peak of American society, at least for white people. It marked the end of a 25-year economic boom, and at that time, gains were distributed throughout society. The poor and middle class had steadily been making gains up until then. After that point, income inequality began to really take off
I don't think you're far off. Another key element of this time period was affordable higher education. It enabled people from poor and working class backgrounds to move into the middle class. And while it's true that the non- white population faced greater roadblocks than today if they lived in areas where they were able to get a decent high school education they also had access to higher education at much more affordable prices. A much smaller % of college students were saddled with student loan debt.
All that said today we benefit from progress in political and social spheres, although SCOTUS seems to be turning the clock back. However, advances in medicine, technology have been a plus on balance, but as others have said only a certain % of the population is in a position to benefit from these advances.
The 60's, we saw the first sub10.00 first sub20.00, over 29 feet in the long jump, Cassius Clay would begin to rule boxing, music was now on a whole other level than ever before, the first Superbowl. Classie Freddie Blassie ruled LA rasslin' The Blond Bomber Ray Stevens in the bay area. How many TV westerns?
A buck would get me,.....bag of chips a dime, a cream soda 12 cents, a comic book 10 cents, that's 32 cents, so a huge bag of penny candy, yep this was the bes of times.
1973 was the peak of American society, at least for white people. It marked the end of a 25-year economic boom, and at that time, gains were distributed throughout society. The poor and middle class had steadily been making gains up until then. After that point, income inequality began to really take off
I don't think you're far off. Another key element of this time period was affordable higher education. It enabled people from poor and working class backgrounds to move into the middle class. And while it's true that the non- white population faced greater roadblocks than today if they lived in areas where they were able to get a decent high school education they also had access to higher education at much more affordable prices. A much smaller % of college students were saddled with student loan debt.
All that said today we benefit from progress in political and social spheres, although SCOTUS seems to be turning the clock back. However, advances in medicine, technology have been a plus on balance, but as others have said only a certain % of the population is in a position to benefit from these advances.
If this is true, it’s basically in agreement with the OP’s contention that it’s best to have been born in the early ‘40s, maybe 1943 to be exact. That would make you 30 at the “end of a 25 year economic boom” with “gains distributed throughout society,” and you’d have had a chance to establish yourself as a working adult and family man during that more economically fair and prosperous time. Once you’re established, it’s easier to stay comfortable and make further career advancements (sort of “the rich get richer” on a middle class to upper middle class scale) as opposed to having the deck stacked against you from the outset.
It’s true that if you were born prior to 1944 you were never at risk of being drafted for Vietnam.
If it’s true that 1943 was the best time to be born in America (at least as a white male…I know, I know) then surely there’s a range that extends from the late ‘30s to late ‘50s that was all pretty good, Vietnam risk aside.
I just attended the funeral of my uncle born in 1949. He had a rural one-room-schoolhouse upbringing that featured hog wrestling and shooting squirrels to be fried up as a “special treat.” He became a mechanical designer for Rockwell Collins, a major aerospace and defense company and by the time I knew him he had a beautiful house on a farm with horses and no shortage of land. He was not a dumb guy, but with all respect to his memory, I suspect he would have led a much different life if he’d been born 40 years later.
I can only speak to my experience. I would break it up: financially would have to be right now. I am making over $300k on a sports mgt degree I thought would net me $60k coaching college.
The answer is super easy: when racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia. Islamaphobia, etc, were are their lowest ebb. Oh wait, that's right now! Even though we're not even close to eradicating them. Ask me again in 20 years, thanks!
Being at the very tale end of the baby boom from late 50s to early 60s. For most of the late 70s and early 80s the drinking age was 18 or 19 in most states. The late 70s was the height of easy drug use before the latest proliferation of legal cannabis that happened in the past 5 years, even though many drugs were deemed illegal, enforcement was extremely lax, drugs were easy to come by and pretty normalized by the number of people on Wall Street and Madison ave that were doing coke.
High school parties of the late 70s and early 80s were epic b/c of the lower drinking age. This same group graduated college with a booming economy in the late 80s and then in the mid to late 90s as they were entering their mid 30s and prime earning years. Low interest rates then allowed a lot to purchase nice first and then second homes and as long as you got in before the 2008 crisis you would have done very well home equity wise and you ended up having two great bull markets for retirement. Most of these folks were too young to lose too much money in the '87 crash and any loss in the 2001 and 2008 crashes were quickly earned back in the subsequent expansions.
From a running perspective the late 70s and 80s were the time for running in America. Every town had a big race, and most races had free beer afterwards and quite a party scene in those days. Fields were deeper than today, team competition was a big deal and prize money was way better relative to today with even smaller rotary club type races offering cash prizes and or things like new shoes, bicycles, etc.
Massive improvements in health care and life expectancy over your 60+ years on earth and huge inheritances from your parents as they passed away, the largest generational wealth transfer in history.
The 70s and 80s was an amazing time for music in addition to the fact many of the great rock acts that started in the 60s were still going strong, you had the development of punk, metal, prog rock, rap and hip hop, funk, Jazz greats like Miles Davis and others were still kicking and innovating, the concert scene and club scene was probably at its biggest ever with huge stadium shows every summer that didn't cost a fortune to attend and where the security wasn't really looking to bust people's balls for partying in the parking lot or inside the venue. Pre aids epidemic so post birth control so no need for condoms and casual sex was as normalized as it has every been.
Private clubs still had cache and if you were male the country club was a place of refuge.
Access to great wine and food has been as good as it gets the last decade or so, farm to table, the Internet, you can buy things with a click that would have required a great deal more effort just 25 or 30 years ago.
High end dining is so much more diverse and interesting than it was a generation ago.
Native Americans (pre-Europeans) might have a claim on that “sweet spot” in North America.
The "native" Americans that came from Asia? White people are the true native Americans.
The white people arrived from another continent as well, so they aren't the true native Americans any more than the people we currently refer to as Native Americans. Both groups came from elsewhere and then settled and reproduced here.
Native Americans (pre-Europeans) might have a claim on that “sweet spot” in North America.
The "native" Americans that came from Asia? White people are the true native Americans.
Yes, the Native Americans that came from Asia, at least 20,000 years ago according to current scientific discoveries. Unless you want to claim that the only place people can be native to is East Africa you're being maliciously disingenuous. Holy sh*t this site sucks sometimes.
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