100%, I don’t think there’s a single thing that I would do differently than them on an individual level. Housing was cheap (compared to today). School was cheap (compared to today). Healthcare costs were manageable (again, relative). Being frugal and attempting to have enough retirement to make it through old age is not a vice, that is just sound money management.
The actual sin is making it harder for everyone else coming behind them.
Make housing more expensive by restricting zoning (I already purchased my house, so I need to protect my investment from things that would degrade the value).
Make school more expensive by not properly scaling public higher education (I am already out of school, so why should we invest more in public schools).
Make unions weak (no collective action means I personally might earn more, though workers overall will earn less).
Make a single payer healthcare system a political impossibility (the system is working for me (because I have $$), I might have to wait in line with all the poors if they can also access the same level of healthcare).
Basically they enshittified government and culture before it was cool, creating stratification layers to benefit themselves when the available alternatives would have been better for society and subsequent generations.
100%, I don’t think there’s a single thing that I would do differently than them on an individual level. Housing was cheap (compared to today). School was cheap (compared to today). Healthcare costs were manageable (again, relative). Being frugal and attempting to have enough retirement to make it through old age is not a vice, that is just sound money management.
The actual sin is making it harder for everyone else coming behind them.
Basically they enshittified government and culture before it was cool, creating stratification layers to benefit themselves when the available alternatives would have been better for society and subsequent generations.