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I have to admit, it isn't just me getting older but honestly this country has taken a massive decline in the quality of life since the late 1990s.
Odd, that with simple jobs in the late 1990s that people could afford a small apartment or even a small house.
I know in Denver that cashiers at supermarkets bought in the same neighborhoods that the creative-class professionals with masters degrees with lots of debt are buying into now.
There is a very fragmented culture and it seems like most people just like to stay at home these days.
Not to mention most restaurants, coffee houses and retail establishments tend to be hyper-focused on profit maximization so get treated terribly these days.
Very few people take pride in anything now days. Most restaurants are pure filth with rude service. Most coffee houses are exclusively people on laptops with headphones.
Most inner-city transit systems have filthy transit these days. Seems like they clean buses and trains on a weekly cycle rather in the past where many were cleaned nightly.
In Denver for instance they used to have clean, good smelling trains. Last time I visited many trains were sticky, stinky with wet seats.
Not only that but many people have totally let themselves go. It can 70 degrees and sunny and unless people are going shopping or to a restaurant you rarely see people out and about anymore.
I know they had a little lake close to an area I grew up in that was crowded with people in the summer. It was a tiny man-made lake next to a park. When, I visited on a 80 degree, sunny summer day less then a dozen people were there.
The only time people tend to go out these days except for shopping and work is to go to a restaurant to have the latest 2,000 calorie laden artisan created supper of trash.
Not only that the economy is virtually reliant on equity bubbles, debt bubbles, bond market bubbles, auto loan bubbles, student loan bubbles, federal reserve balance sheet bubbles, mortgage bubbles.
There are some nice things like the technology now compared to 20 years ago, but in general the nation's morals, ethics, common sense and quality of life have plummeted in my opinion.
You would like "The Vanishing Middle Class" by MIT economist Peter Temin; give it a read - it explains many of your observations using the Lewis Model.
By the way, you are almost starting to sound like a liberal OP.
I agree with you completely ! Only I would go back a few more years. Morals, work ethics, standard of living, hope for the future, employment, etc. have all gone down hill. I think people have given up hope for a better life. People are debt ridden, unemployed, or working below their education/ability. Too many are in debt with little or no hope of getting out. I keep telling my wife that America is in a shameful , self imposed decline and it is sad. We are a great nation, a world leader but we are letting the values that got us here slip to the wayside. We can still turn things around but the window is closing fast. I'm not sure we will change in time.0
I have been active, out and about and traveling to different parts of the USA. Things look great in all the places I have traveled: Active people, nice areas, clean, growing areas, people shopping and going to restaurants and spending money, help wanted signs everywhere. I've been to blue states and red states, south, midwest, west and east. Cities, suburbs, small rural towns and everything in between. Hotels are booked solid. Lots of people are traveling too.
People posting about having it bad now versus the 1990s. Please post the general region and what has changed between 1990 and today in that same area?
Last edited by sware2cod; 05-13-2017 at 08:26 PM..
I have been active, out and about and traveling to different parts of the USA. Things look great in all the places I have travelled: Active people, nice areas, clean, growing areas, people shopping and going to restaurants and spending money, help wanted signs everywhere. I've been to blue states and red states, south, midwest, west and east. Cities, suburbs, small rural towns and everything in between.
Some areas are better than others. Rural areas have definitely taken a hit and the Trump admin is only making things worse.
I was in my 20s in the '90s. I didn't have much money so I lived in the inner city in Minneapolis. My memories are of hearing gunshots on a regular basis, seeing crack dealers on corners, sleazy "health spas" and massage parlors all over the city, crime, vice, hopelessness and decay. Minneapolis was like The Wire in the '90s and it seemed like the city was turning into the next Detroit.
Most major American cities in at least, the early 1990's were far worse off compared to today. For example, even with the recent spike in crime, violent crime, contrary to what many think, has been sharply declining all across the USA, along with urban decay, city and police corruption, and intercity poverty. There are exceptions for a number of different reasons unique to those cities, (Detroit), but most major cities, NYC, LA, SF, are far more peaceful, clean, green, less corrupt, and livable, than they have been in the last 45 years.
In my area....where commodity prices are the main thing driving the economy.... when crop prices and oil prices were much higher 5 yrs ago it was booming big time. Also when the Canadian dollar was stronger vs the US dollar back then as well, Canadian business was quite good for local communities. But overall the Dakotas and northwestern Minnesota continue to grow.
I've had a great time since the 80's. made a good living, traveled, enjoyed life. You make your own place in life. If you've been blessed with good health, the rest is on you. Poor decisions make poor people.
Just because of one area in your opinion that has gotten worse can you make the case for the entire country. It is way too subjective and limited.
One thing I don't like is how if you travel across the country how every town has the same chain restaurants and businesses. Not only have the independently run businesses gone away but also variety of choices.
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