As someone who wasnt that young in the 90’s, i can assure you that young people then complained about the same stuff that the young people complain about today.
The current employment rate in the US is 60% - but between ~1985 and ~2008 it was never below that level, and at times was as high as 64% [1].
At the same time, although the US was party to some international scuffles, prior to 2001 was a time of relative peace. And the full scale of the climate crisis was not yet clear.
So I can see how someone born in ~1975, who didn't really follow the state of the economy until ~1985 might recall the 1990s as a time of peace and prosperity.
For labor force participation, you'd need to look at demographics. Note that the rate now is higher than the 1960's which was <60%? That's right when baby boomers entered the work force! And 2010 is around when they'd retire. Not a coincidence.
Prior to 2001 we had the Gulf War, Panama in '89, Somali in '93, Bosnia in '95. Compared to then, it's been pretty peaceful since 9/11 and the Iraq War? Especially compared to the Cold War?
Don't get me wrong, the 70's sucked, and the 80's and 90's were better.
But my point is - the kids back in the 90's complained about wars, the economy, the job market, education, etc. All the same stuff.
> Prior to 2001 we had the Gulf War, Panama in '89, Somali in '93, Bosnia in '95. Compared to then, it's been pretty peaceful since 9/11 and the Iraq War? Especially compared to the Cold War?
Cold war was largely over by the 1990s, and the wars of the 1990s were generally short, UN-lead, and either small-scale or successful. The US sent 441 troops to Somalia for 2 months in 1993 - small beans compared to the 8 years and peak of 500,000 troops in the second Iraq war.
> But regardless, compare to today - the US doesn't have troops in active war zones anywhere?
OK, let me state my argument a bit differently.
Imagine the state of the world follows a sine pattern with a 20 year period. On average over the long term, the mean is zero - but there are some 10 year windows of constant ascent, and some of constant descent.
But I think for an American who started paying attention to the state of the world just as the cold war ended, the period from then through to 9/11 was the sine wave rising. There weren't no wars, America couldn't possibly go a whole decade without at least one or two
The pandemic was, of course, a downslope on the sine wave. The people young enough not to remember the pandemic won't be writing NYT Op-eds until 2070 or so. Maybe we're about to see 10 years of relative prosperity - you never know!
At the same time, although the US was party to some international scuffles, prior to 2001 was a time of relative peace. And the full scale of the climate crisis was not yet clear.
So I can see how someone born in ~1975, who didn't really follow the state of the economy until ~1985 might recall the 1990s as a time of peace and prosperity.
[1] https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/employment-rate