Memes

For one thing, the economic boom of the 1950s was an anomaly, largely driven by years of enforced saving during WWII, at least in America. Many consumer goods here were either rationed or unavailable during the war, but there was full employment for war production and those jobs paid well. So people were making good money and didn't have a lot to spend it on. So they bought war bonds or just saved up. A few years after the war ended, when industry had shifted back to producing consumer goods, people had a lot of money to spend. Sales fueled more jobs and higher pay, fueling more sales etc. That was the 50s boom in a nutshell.

By 1960 all the savings had been spent and consumption was slacking off. But the business world didn't want the boom to end, so they started handing out consumer credit like candy. Consumers also didn't want it to end, so they eagerly bought on credit. Constantly owing money became the norm, and now the average American family carries like $15,000 in credit debt, excluding mortagages.

I think the only way we can achieve a boomer-like lifestyle for everybody will take massive changes in how we run the economy. The current system will just keep shoveling profits into the hands of a very small number of very wealthy people. Automation will keep eliminating more and more jobs - but the theoretical endpoint of that is a stat, where the economy collapses because there are too few people with incomes who can afford to buy anything. Reforming our economy before it gets to that point will be a survival issue, not a political one.