Video Reveals Just How Life Was Much More Affordable in the 1970’s

I am old enough to remember when things seemed a lot better in this country than they currently are, or have been in recent decades.

Lets say, for the most part, it feels like things have been decidedly worse for the United States more or less in the 21st century, almost from the start. Remember, the first truly divisive election was in the year 2000. That was when we first began to hear about the "red" versus "blue" divide. With the presidency of George W. Bush, we saw a whole bunch of major corporate scandals, starting with Enron. Shortly after that, we saw the September 11th attacks. Then, more corporate scandals, and the economy tanked. Oh, and New Orleans went underwater and came as close to being lost as I have seen a major city experience.

So yeah, the 21st century hardly feels like "our century," the way that the 20th century did.

My childhood was from the 1970's through the 1980's. So I am old enough to remember when this country seemed to be having better times. Of course, that might be a little deceptive, because in fact, some of the first cracks revealing our national decline were then already happening. It was just that, for the most part, things were not so bad (yet) that most Americans saw it. That would come in time. But Reaganomics really feels like the starting point for the spiral downwards that we have seen since.

In fact, however, I heard years ago that it started even before that. According to one report - and I regret not remembering the specifics of this report, or what it was called and who created it - Americans reached the peak of their affluence and overall living standards in 1973, the year before I was born. That sounded about right. Perhaps not coincidentally, that was the year when Nixon privatized the national healthcare system. So yeah, that feels like maybe the beginning.

Anyway, I saw this video, which reinforced some comparisons that I and millions of others have seen about how life was generally more affordable and promising and pleasant overall for Americans back in the 1970's. We all have heard the statistics and such, right? If not, this video felt informative, and a reminder that there was a starting point for when things grew measurably worse in this country.

That's important to know, because perhaps not everything ir irreversible. Maybe we can learn, and return to policies that could bring us a bit closer to the better aspects of the good old days, if you will.

Take a look:

The 12 Things That Made Americans Happier in the 1970s (That We Destroyed) by How It Used to Be

https://youtu.be/as-sCGKd90Q?si=6T_7zOQkQLAT6EBZ

The 12 Things That Made Americans Happier in the 1970s (That We Destroyed)