I’m back in the states for holidays but this time it was such a shock to realize everything looks so old, like from the airport to the convenience stores, malls, gas stations, etc. Why does everything look like it hasn’t changed from the 90s? And I was out just for a couple of months but things look newer and shinier in Panama and El Salvador compared to here. I cannot even imagine what some of you coming back from east Asia must feel. Did our country peak in the 90s and other countries are going through their renaissance? I love the convenience of the US where everything is open 24 hrs and you can get things delivered to your door basically overnight if you pay the price but I feel like we’re stuck with very old and boring infrastructure, makes me feel almost the same way I felt when I went to eastern Europe
Not really what you were getting at, but actually yes the US did peak in the 90s. It was the height of our global power and influence before 9/11 and the forever wars. We had high quality of life, and a political climate that was far less polarized.
This right here. This is so true.
It’s been a 20 year triple whammy of 9/11, the 2008 market crash, and then Covid coming along and deeply splintering society even more than it was.