system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why was the economy so strong in the 90s, and what's different between then and now?

I was born in 1993 so I don't really remember that era, but from what everyone says there were always jobs available, wages and benefits were better, higher education was a fraction of the cost and making a living for yourself was easier.

Obviously we've had recessions since then, but by my understanding the global economy has technically exited recession and is growing. If this is so, why do we always hear about how terrible the economy currently is? What would it take for the American economy, for example, to get back to where it once was?
gpt
The American economy was fantastic from the 40's to the early 90's (save a couple blips during the 70's w/ the oil crisis and a minor banking crisis in the 80's) mostly because:

* There were no competitors.  America was the only 1st world nation left intact following the war.  The 3rd world was way behind, Europe rebuilding, and Russia never really an economic threat.
* America established a rock-solid middle class thanks largely to FDR and Johnson's policies that virtually guaranteed livable wages, affordable education, and advancement.

What we've seen since then is:

* The 3rd world advancing at a *much* higher rate than the U.S. - our massive technological and educational lead is shrinking.  On some level they were bound to catch up quickly.
* The aforementioned middle class is disappearing, mostly because of a greedy generation of baby boomers decided to dismantle the social programs that made them strong for a few bucks.  The baby boomers were handed everything, didn't recognize why their parents built it in the first place, and don't appreciate how critical it is to maintain that system.  Europeans, with their WW2/Cold War scars, do - and have massively outpaced us in infrastructure in the past 30 years.

The US's advantage over Europe is mostly related to how easy it is to start new companies and execute new ideas, and it's advantage over the rest of the (not western) world is it's education / infrastructure.  Both of those need to be maintained and improved to keep our economic advantage.

The only real areas where the US is still drastically ahead of the world is in software and entertainment (both of which also are natural to Americans - whom excel at rapid innovation/creativity but less on meticulous mechanical engineering), and is a peer to Europe in other high tech areas (medicine, etc).

That what grew our economy then, that's what drastically grew in the early 90's, and that's the only thing keeping us a float now.

The easiest thing to do is simply look at the parts of the US with booming economies.  Massachusetts and San Francisco (high tech boom), NYC (finance), and Los Angeles (entertainment/startups).  Do what they do, and stop voting for the fucking tea party.