| During the boom economy, we took on historically unprecedented debt to finance our pursuit of the American Dream, all the while losing faith that we could achieve it. Now that the Wall Street party is over, we’re starting to dream anew. Vanity Fair contributing editor David Kamp has more, in an essay accompanied by some stunning photos of American life. [%comments]
You Are Not Your 401(k)
TAGS: financial crisis, photography
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It’s interesting that the 50 year old photo of Lake Placid could be reproduced in any of several dozen locations within less than an hour’s drive from my house on the Utah/Idaho border. We’re sometimes accused here of being a couple decades behind the rest of the country, but who ever said that’s a bad thing?
I’ll admit it. My first inclination to check out this blog was just to see all the cool Kodak colorama photos. Very Americana! But, then, I got pulled into this essay…wow, I’ve always heard growing up about the Great Depression (I’m a product of the tail end of the Baby Boomers, or maybe a leader of Generation X, I’m not sure, just that it was the sixties), and how we were going to have it better than our parents did. But how did we get to be 70 million spoiled brats? What is all this ‘entitlism’ about ? As a generation now entering their retirement years, I can’t say I’m proud of what we, as a generation, have turned out to be…and you can’t blame our parents for this one. i agree with David Kamp, let’s get to back to simpler times, before it’s too late.
I liked the essay and the photos, but I think it is good to note that the pictures show no minorities. This was a golden era, for some, but not all.