Title: Life in the 90's | America Magazine
Headings: Life in the 90's
Life in the 90's
Content: infamous technology! Remember, one of the criticisms of the 1980’s boom was that the great riches went to those—lawyers, takeover kings, mergers and acquisitions specialists—who created nothing but paper and who, in fact, facilitated the loss of American industrial jobs. The 90’s were quite different in that regard, and even a Luddite like myself must admit as much. It’s an open question how much of that 90’s money went to the poor and the middle class, but I suspect they benefitted more than some critics say, and less than some commercial cheerleaders insist. The middle class has a way of making its discontent known, and there have been few signs that they believe the great boom has passed them by. The poor, as ever, are not heard much in the debate. Life in the 90’s wasn’t so different from every other decade that came before it. The culture became immensely more vulgar, and young people were subjected to greater pressure to conform to a youth culture invented and ruled over by middle-aged men and women on both coasts. More than ever before, adolescents are bombarded with messages instructing them to be hip, whatever that means, or else. And being hip in the 90’s meant many things, including smoking cigarettes!