/80s/

>>3152370
Consumer spending got a new, huge breath of life after the economic and social malaise of the 70s.

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Before the 70s, it seemed like everything in America could work out forever. We were the top dog, we had an enemy to hate, we were getting richer and richer.

Then the 70s hit, the Hippies were finished, Nixon fucked around, the oil shock hit, Americans who had spent a lifetime in a great economy suddenly realized they'd have to tighten their belts, and America's greed caught up with it. They chose not to tighten their belts. They instead elected Ron Reagan in 1980.

Instead of becoming fiscally responsible, Reagan reduced tax rates and threw money everywhere in hopes of stimulating the economy. Fed interest rates soared. He cut the fat/slashed discretionary programs while increasing the defense budget and declining to reform health care spending (America's largest set of entitlement programs by far). But the economy was better than Carter, and that's what America wanted and had asked for.

As for commercialism, it became more refined, but it had already begun decades earlier. It's just that those with creative influence (writers, filmmakers, journalists) saw in their moment a time of intense commercialism that appeared to be killing culture, whereas before it was understood that the commercial was almost universally beneficial with a few bad eggs, rather than universally dangerous with a few good eggs.

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>>3152421
>saw in their moment a time of intense commercialism that appeared to be killing culture, whereas before it was understood that the commercial was almost universally beneficial with a few bad eggs, rather than universally dangerous with a few good eggs.

this is what They Live is all about

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the economy grew a lot more between 1957 and 1987 than between 1987 and 2017, lifestyles also, in the past household chores consumed most free time and there were many more labor intensive jobs, many replaced by mechanization and later computers, though now people can barely afford rent and have to compete with migrants and cheap foreign labor if they are blue collar

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something something aesthetics meme

>>3152370

The 80's is when productivity and wages became uncoupled. Suddenly, a handful of people were making huge fortunes, seemingly without effort. This fed into the public imagination and made people think "if that schmuck can make it, so can I!". This in turn lead to an epidemic of "get rich quick" scams, which again made a small number of people extremely rich and perpetuated the cycle. The net result was a decade-long fantasy of riches just waiting to be won by the "smart", the death of the notion that hard work pays off, and ultimately the disillusionment of and cynicism of the 90's.

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>>3152450

>tfw will never drive a nissan CUE-X

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>>3152494
;_;

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>>3152450
I still hanker for the older look

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>>3152554
Car styling hasn't been the same since the (((feds))) mandated that all cars have to be made out of marshmallow cream and goose feather pillows so that dumb pedestrians don't hurt themselves after walking right in front of traffic whith their earbuds on.
Just compare an old Mini to a nuMini. chubby chasers baka