What Color is the Sky on Your Planet?

[kevin_standlee]

Over on another community -- some of you reading this may still be following that discussion, too -- I had reason to question the economic assumptions of someone claiming that we're in a "bad economy." I asked how long we've been in a "bad economy." The reply, cut-and-pasted here exactly so I can't be accused of misquoting, was:

i think our economy has been in a primarily steady decline since the 50's with the occasional boost.

This is someone a few years younger than me. I was born in 1965 and grew up in different parts of northern California. I am not from a wealthy family, nor have I won a lottery. I'm pretty middle class, I reckon. For the record, I do not think that the US economy has been in a sustained 50-plus year decline.

It makes me think that the dot-com boom did even more harm than we thought at the time: it convinced some people that the running with a high fever is the "normal" state, and than anything else is a depression.