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.
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Depends on skin color and configuration of gonads...
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Well if you're a big pharma scam representative who's a coddled liberal communist, then perhaps it's right now.
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Right now is the best if you have the right attitude and don’t get triggered by politics and social media.
We walk around with instant info and communication in our hands.
Central air conditioning.
Good cars.
Tons of media for entertainment in your home or mobile devices.
Better toilet paper.
More job choices.
We glamorize the past for the same reason we smile for pictures.
We look back and think we were always happy at that moment.You picked the build up of World War II.
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The 90s were pretty great time to be a teen. Access to cell phone and internet the second half of the decade, but no documentation of everything you did.
Now is the best time if you ignore most of social media and use technology for good. Poor people have more access to information and entertainment than multimillionaires did 40 years ago.
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ih8brandon wrote:
I would say the sweet spot to have been born is the early 40s. Too young for WWII and too old for Vietnam.
I think you had better research who was eligible for the draft. You'll be surprised.
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malmo wrote:
ih8brandon wrote:
I would say the sweet spot to have been born is the early 40s. Too young for WWII and too old for Vietnam.
I think you had better research who was eligible for the draft. You'll be surprised.
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ih8brandon wrote:
almost like most of the world is invisible to you wrote:
If you were a white male, sure.
I should not have to apologize for being a white male.
And the racist system your people designed made sure you conveniently don’t have to, at the expense of everyone else. Thankfully, the jig is basically up. Like the last days of Rome, keep fiddling.
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ih8brandon wrote:
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.
In my opinion the time after WWII until the late 60's early 70's. The Nation was electrified by then, that wasn't the case pre WWII. Most homes had running water, toilets ect. Jobs and wages were good. Mothers could stay at home looking after the kids while dad brought home the bacon.
Also the Inter-State Highway System was being built/close to being finished. Commercial air travel was available to the masses.
Before WWII America suffered during the Great Depression. After the war American reaped the monetary rewards of being the richest of victors. However that only lasted for a generation or so and then things started sliding south again.
If I left something out, I'm sure someone else can fill in the blanks.
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I know a guy who was born in 1942, served in Marine air in the early part of the war.
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Vietnam war, that is.
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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.
travel-wise had to be pre-9/11… I would make flights within minutes of doors closing, no paper checking nothing just threw me in the plane. Now with COVID travel as sucked with masks and testing but at least still getting it done.
Free time my childhood,, pre-internet would okay hoops for 10 hours a day running around without a care in the world.
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Great freaking post OP, a rare thing around these parts.
I would add a number of years with FDR as president before the war as well and extend into the late 1960s, not because of Vietnam (of course) but because of the start of a true national effort to pursue social justice. I'm convinced that period (1935-ish to 1969-ish, even with lingering depression and Vietnam) was the peak of America. Checks on the unfettered power of corporations, manufacturing dominance coupled with rise of unions, beginnings of welfare-state programs, unity in fighting the Axis powers and then the Soviets, progress in social justice, medical and scientific advances. Wonderful.
I dream of another FDR coming along who will fight for the average citizen again but I don't expect it to happen. I have come to hate what America is in 2022. We're aggressively moving in reverse and the 2022 mid terms may very well be our last truly free and fair elections. That is not hyperbole. It's stunning to me to consider that America may become an authoritarian minority-rule country that subsequently collapses in our lifetimes.
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There's more opportunity now than ever to become rich
There's also the most social programs ever, If you decide to go that route
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Ask James Brown:
I think one of the guys in the brass section got a hold of my prom tux.
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Native Americans (pre-Europeans) might have a claim on that “sweet spot” in North America.
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