iamwhatiseem
Diamond Member
- Thread starter
- #21
IMO - the happy days probably began somewhere in the 50s and ended by the 80s.I was a teen in the 50's and I remember quite well what life was like. By today's standards, opportunities were limited for just about everyone and it may seem that people lived their lives in quiet desperation from our point view today. Social norms were rigid for everyone. Men were bread winners and women were homemakers. However, it was not uncommon for mothers to go to work when the kids were older and of course single women worked. The family structure was much different than today. Single parent families were relatively rare compared today. Families did activates together, going to movies, picnics, watching TV, etc. In general, people were more dependent on family members, neighbors, co-workers than today. I suppose if people at that time understood how limited their lives were do to social mores, they would have been pretty miserable but they didn't so for most people those were the happy days.
Definitely the best time to work before NAFTA, automation and corporatism outsourced everything. Fast climbing wages/benefits instead of flat wages for decades and dwindling benefits.
Starting right now - companies are beginning to take away holiday pay. YOU HEARD IT HERE... by 2026... it will be common for people to no longer get paid for holidays.
And in this time, families were still families. Neighbors knew each other, were usually friends and kids played...wait for it... actually together, literally with each other.
By the 1990s, wages were stagnate, pensions were disappearing, sick days vanished and housing costs were unconscious.