You must log in or # to comment.
Its funny. They won’t go so far as straight up slavery because the 1750s didn’t have cars or some shit. But 1950… We can go without Internet… We don’t know how to use it anyway.
The 1950s were great (for white people) because wages were high enough to pay for a house and support a family of five, with only one parent needing to work - even for ‘untrained labor’ jobs.
This was made possible by higher taxes for the rich and strong unions. Both disappeared, and the effects are evident.
The 1950s were great (for white people)
For male white people.
Of course, that goes without saying.
Were aren’t going to find out for sure, because its not like we have a time machine or anything, but I’d be curious to know if women are happier now than when they were expected to just be housewives.
I mean in general, the ones with abusive husbands and absolutely no recourse obviously shit was fucked.
What I enjoy about being a woman is 2026 is I am free to come & go as I please, have my own bank accounts & credit cards, responsible & accountable for my own self & my own money & I don’t have to answer to anyone,
but it sucks that I don’t have any other option.
I can’t just sit at home and have someone take care of me for the rest of my life. Because deep deep down, no matter what gender you are, you gotta admit, wouldn’t it be nice to have someone take care of you while all you have to do is sit around being sexy all day? 😜
I agree except the sit around being sexy, I would want to just sit around and be my ugly ass. Being sexy takes work.
Now they have a choice? It makes a pretty big difference.
In general they kinda dont. Being a housewife to a fairly rich man is an option, but there aren’t enough to go around. Live in poverty or both partners work at least one job for most people.
They didn’t disappear; they were killed off.
Just go watch married with children. He worked in a shoe store.
And in 2026 Homer Simpson supports a housewife and 3 kids in a job that doesn’t require a college / university education. See, it can still be done!
This was made possible by higher taxes for the rich and strong unions.
And a devastating world war that destroyed the infrastructure of every other industrialized country on the planet, but left the USA almost entirely untouched, leading to a massive demand for tools and materials for rebuilding that could only be met by the USA.
If the Americans want the 1950s economy for white people back, not only do they need the social programs from the 1930s that survived until the 1950s, they also need a devastating world war somewhere overseas that the US only joins halfway through once those other countries have their infrastructure completely obliterated. Starting a war in Iran won’t cut it because then it’s the US having to pay for planes and bombs and artillery, rather than selling to both sides as the US did up until it joined the allies in WWII.
The World War thing was massively overblown. Yes, we did the Marshall Plan, but this was a small part of the US economy. It’s mostly a myth that we had the booming middle class because everyone else had their industrial base destroyed in the war. Look at an actual plot of exports as a share of GDP:
Today exports make up three times the amount of our national economy than they did in the mid 1950s.
Yes, you can find figures that show the US absolutely dominating the global production of certain goods like cars in the 1950s. But what’s important to note was that almost all of this production was consumed domestically. The US produced a lot of stuff, but it also had a ton of wealthy consumers. And that’s the other thing. People living in bombed out ruins don’t have the money to buy brand new Fords. Yes, the other countries weren’t producing much, but they also weren’t buying much either.
We musn’t overlook the most impactful financial leverage the US acquired from the war. Centuries of colonial wealth were transferred to the US as European allies, decimated by the war, depleted their treasuries to buy US weapons. The Nazis bombed the British empire into insolvency and nearly all of that wealth went to buying American weapons. By the end of the war the US held three quarter of the world’s gold reserves, allowing it to institute the Breton Woods system, making the US dollar the world’s reserve currency. This with America’s disproportionate manufacturing capacity left intact - more than 50% of global manufacturing from a nation with less than 10% the global population - and the Marshall Plan which contributed to persistent demand for American goods created a feedback loop which allowed America to become the world’s factory, banker and strongest consumer simultaneously.
American lore focuses on some type of intrinsic exceptionalism but the reality is the stars aligned for them in this particular period and they, credit to them, they took full advantage of it. Doubt it ever happens again though. The game’s different when you’re at the top, as I’m sure they’re all too familiar with now.
I think this graph is more relevant:
How so?
Sure, my answer was not complete. There were many factors for the prosperity of the 1950s. You could easily write books about that topic, and many did. I still see strong unions and more effective taxation as big factors.
Big, but not enough. If people really want the feeling of wealth from the 50s, another world war not involving the US needs to happen in addition to the labour protections, high tax rate on the wealthy, etc. That’s why it’s essentially impossible to get to there from here.
Having said that, it’s still possible to have a lot less wealth disparity.
“Look, when we say 1950s we mostly just hate black people and gay people.” -GOP
Don’t forget being able to treat women like property!
They didn’t stop doing that, but it would be acceptable again.
True but the difference is women can hold credit now so owning/renting a home and a car is feasible without having to marry an absolute wanker.
Some still marry wankers despite this. It’s unfortunate.
As a male with an unfortunate genetic condition I can honestly say it’s not just the women.
Sitting on the sidelines, and watching my friend group jump into bed and into marriage with the first consenting partner is just about the dumbest thing imaginable. Years later they wake up and realize that the hormones experienced during the young adult years, did not allow them to make correct life decisions. But, now there’s a mortgage and kids and they’re stuck and miserable.
Some cheat, some take out their anger on what they see as the cause of their unhappiness: the wife, the kids. It’s a stupid situation, and the amount of times I’ve heard “Why didn’t you stop me?”… I tried, ad nauseam.
“If I can’t fire bomb a gay club am I really free?”
1950s is just what they tell their voters dumb enough to think Leave To Beaver was a documentary. They really are aiming for the Gilded Age.
The new deal was quite racist and we shouldn’t forget that and romanticize it
I think it’s quite all right to romanticize taking steps in the right direction towards progressivism and not towards fascism.
deleted by creator
Well at least they got what they wanted.
And misogynist. Ah heck, just generally bigoted on all levels. Simple rules, a clear (and advantageous) position in life. The good ol’ colonialist dream. Power over others instead of complex dialogue.
I could go on.
