They own their own house. They could easily afford to have children. They could easily find well paid work outside of big cities, set up their own business. The

They own their own house. They could easily afford to have children. They could easily find well paid work outside of big cities, set up their own business. They didn't need higher education to get a well paid job. They didn't need to work nights and weekends for 15 years straight on side projects just to get by (like I did). They have more friends and their friendships are stronger too because they don't have to keep moving countries/cities to find jobs that pay enough (and with the right tax regime) to support a basic lifestyle. They didn't have to change jobs all the time to keep up with inflation. Their jobs were meaningful and useful to society (not some financial schemes). They're part of their community. They are less stressed. They feel free to express their views with their friends and colleagues. They felt that they could trust the government for most of their lives. Taxes were lower since inflation has since pushed everyone into higher tax brackets and the taxes actually went to useful projects, not into the pockets of big corporate executives and financiers. Nowadays, every worker is subsidizing corporations; subsidizing their own slavery within the corporate system - Sometimes unwittingly, sometimes against their will because in many countries, retirement contributions are compulsory and deducted from incomes; this money is 'invested' into corporate stocks and straight into the pockets of big executives who get huge bonuses thanks to the rising stock prices; driven by all the big pension funds propping up stock prices using workers' money which was taken out of their salaries without their explicit consent.