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I will add, In 1960 your phone bill and water bill and electric bill had no fees and no taxes. The wife stayed home and protected the kids. We did not have pedophiles roaming the streets picking up and killing a kid left alone for 5 minutes. We kids were playing out side all day playing kick ball, tag foot ball, four square, little red rider, war, cowboys and Indians, tag, hide and seek. Kids were not on Internet all day sending IM's and planning the next Columbine. Boys took 22 riles to school our bicycle to shoot after school in the local NRA or boyscout event. A fight at school was 2 boys after school man on man, no drive by shootings, no drug dealers, crack or sluts and out of wed lock births by the dozens. Condoms were something only your college brother knew about not taught at school. We were courteous to each other opened doors for women, we had sock hops at school and shot spit wads with pea shooters at the ceiling. When dad got home from work work was over unless he had brought home some files to work on, there was no home PC and cell phones and constant pagers or work calling after 6pm. The news media was the AP and gosh they only reported the news TV was Chet Huntley who you could actually trust to bring you the days news. TV was Bewitched,F troop, Petty Coat Junction, I spy, Twilight Zone. There were not Gays, Men hating shows, a bunch of un wed living together cant stayed married or committed whining 30 something losers Sit coms. The list goes on. I say life was better a lot better, simpler, slower, easier in a lot of ways.

I will add, In 1960 your phone bill and water bill and electric bill had no fees and no taxes.

I was amazed when the guy claimed that we paid less in taxes back then. I noticed that he didn't give any numbers to support that claim, and I suspect that the statement was highly spun. Maybe the top rate was lower, but that doesn't mean that most people actually paid less of their productivity in taxes.

Bill

Uh, I'm pretty sure there were pedophiles, gays, drug dealers, and crappy television in 1960. They weren't invented in 1961. The social guidance films of the 1950's are rife with these topics, actually. Even kids bringing guns (in a bad way) to schools.

I think everyone tends to idealize the environment they grew up in because they were largely unaware of what went on outside the immediate confines of their family at the time. I find myself having strangely idealized notions about the 1980's too, because that decade formed a great deal of my childhood. It really doesn't make sense - everyone seems to think the generation they grew up in was simply ideal. But the 1980's were not ideal and neither were the '50's.

Some really thoughtful and disturbing commentary on this topic. My work increasingly allows me to telecommute, so I'm looking abroad, including Central America (Costa Rica and Panama) and South America (Argentina and Chile). These areas are far from perfect, but they offer a lower cost of living (much higher purchasing power on a US salary) and much of the good traditional family-friendly culture of the 50s and 60s that this country has lost. Also, much lower taxes and other expenses. Not to mention little or no nuclear terrorist threat. I suspect more and more Americans with families who can afford to do so -- that is, who can telecommute and dont require a lot of face time with bosses to do their jobs -- are going to be looking abroad for a much better lifestyle. Outside parts of the midwest, south and southwest, the U.S. just doesn't cut it any more. Among other things, too many markets have become saturated -- certainly along the east and west coast.