Go to any mass urban area (Memphis, St Louis, New Orleans, Birmingham, Atlanta, etc). You could measure the urban decay and stagnant job situation in 1969...and basically find the same basic numbers today.
Sure, everyone has a 52-inch TV on their wall and carries a smart phone on themselves. But getting a real job and getting ahead in life...is basically the same structure and stumbles that existed in 1969. Nothing really changed.
In the county that I grew up in the mid-60s to late-70s....there used to be around twenty-five potential employers with a decent career path. Today? There’s maybe six employers. The rest went away as NAFTA came into effect. The last potential $15-an-hour company shut down this year. You will have to drive at least fifty miles to find any company hiring, and accept marginal salaries as the norm.
I’m one of the lucky ones that signed up and did two decades of service with the Air Force. I’m in a favorable lifestyle today because of that. That’s the only way you can find some promised land in existence when you live in a stagnant area.
Correct me if I’m wrong but joining the Air Force is a choice not a matter of random luck isn’t it?