An article in The Atlantic reminds us of conditions in the 1950s...
Everyone agrees that the midcentury boom times began after Allied soldiers returned in triumph from World War II...And those economic conditions were achieved in a period of strong labor unions, high taxes, and Big Government...
In 1950, America led the world in GDP per capita. Even by 1973, it had only sunk to number two. Jobs were so plentiful that male employment peaked at over 84 percent. Unemployment, when it did strike, didn’t last long. Housing was cheap. Gas was cheap. Movies were cheap. If America was ever “great,” it was great in 1950, and one can sympathize with a desire to recreate those economic conditions, if not the social ones.
