I'm not an economist but it always drives me crazy when the US economy of the 1950's and 60's is seen as some sort of reasonable benchmark for how our economy s

I'm not an economist but it always drives me crazy when the US economy of the 1950's and 60's is seen as some sort of reasonable benchmark for how our economy should grow. The world was still coming out of the great depression, two world wars that massively disrupted the infrastructure of Europe and large parts of Asia AND an astounding rise in international trade. The US economy should have been booming, right?! I'm sure it happens in actual scholarship but in articles like this there seems to be little to no correcting for the factors above.