[michaelt]

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.

[1] https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/employment-rate

[refurb]

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.

[michaelt]

> 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.

[refurb]

US soliders’ corpses were dragged through the streets of Somalia.

The US bombed the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia.

At the time these were not viewed as minor interventions.

But regardless, compare to today - the US doesn't have troops in active war zones anywhere?

[michaelt]

> 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!