[MCF]

After 16 years of economic depression and World War II; the late 40’s and all the 50’s was a time of great optimism, and rightly so.

[Clemenza]

You hit the nail on the head. From grueling unemployment and poverty straight into a hellish war, and then out to full employment and having CHEAP high quality housing with your mortgage backed by the government (and in many cases college educations) thanks to the GI Bill.

Other than sociocultural trends, the prime negative I see in the current age relative to the 1950s is the higher cost of housing even when adjusting for inflation.