"Are you referring to the Great Depression followed by WWII? As I remember that was the culmination of an era of unrestrained optimism."
That's how the liberals wrote the history - wrong.
The right history is that we had good policies under Coolidge and Harding that created a boom, which created optimism.
Then we had bad policies under Hoover (tariffs and tax hikes) combined with globally bad policies that turned a recession into global depression.
Then further bad policies under FDR (see "FDR's Folly") of Government intervention that lengthened the depression so it became the Great Depression.
Both pessimism and optimism were results of economic policies and economic realities, not causes of either.
(And Galbraith and the liberals were always wrong to insinuate that the 1929 market crash 'caused' the great depression; the crash in 1987 and many other times (eg 1906) had no such stark impact, even the bursting of the internet bubble circa 2001, which was followed by a very shallow recession, shows that stock markets are barometers not causes of economic advances and declines. "The Way the World Works" studied the stock market of the era and shows how the market was *reacting* to realities in Washington and in the economy as they unfolded. )
Optimism is the most realistic view to take if you study American history. We continue to advance and get better over time.
Well said. Gregg Easterbrook and Julian Simon have written great books on this theme. I would go so far as to argue that the average American citizen today enjoys a better all-around quality of life than almost everyone that existed in previous generations in the history of our world.
This doesn't mean that there aren't exceptions of course; there are certainly poor people in America, just like everywhere else, and there are areas where we could get even better. There will always be periods of war and there will always be some poverty and there will always be brief times of economic downturn, but I see absolutely no reason to believe that over the long run things won't continue to improve for a long time to come. Unremitting liberal negativity isn't worth a plug nickel in my book.
I was just responding in kind - outlandish, oversimplistic, hyperbole - to make a point. The real history of the era is still being disputed.
Both pessimism and optimism were results of economic policies and economic realities, not causes of either.
Actually, they work together, reinforce each other - which is unfortunate. Pride goeth before a fall...and, once fallen, it becomes much more difficult to get up.
Optimism is the most realistic view to take if you study American history. We continue to advance and get better over time.
This is the tricky part...and not just of American history. Technological advance is beyond dispute. But is this a better world, a more joyous place to live than the '60s or the '40s, or the '20s or the 1890s? Not in my experience.