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Message: <blockquote data-quote="RidgeHunter" data-source="post: 1829429" data-attributes="member: 4319">Not really. There was for all intents and purposes no middle-class before WWII. The returning soldiers spurred a housing boom, baby boom, billions of dollars in war bonds matured at once, a permanent war manufacturing economy was established, the G.I. Bill trained millions of G.I.'s for well paid jobs which spurred city and suburban growth, the Interstate Highway Act and automobile-based industries exploded onto the scene, the tax rate was beneficial to paying off the debt, etc.Eisenhower was mentioned earlier - it should be noted that he supported drastically different economic policies than the average Republican today. Hell, so did Nixon. What we see today is pretty young and owes its roots to Reaganomics. The debt incurred from WWII was leveled quickly as a result of WWII itself. Your "bootstrap" generation had an unprecedented amount of help pulling those boots on. Economically speaking, I'd argue the parents of the greatest generation had the toughest time with their boots. The greatest generation got TV sets, '55 Chevys, air conditioning, and fully pensioned on-time retirement for blue-collar work.</blockquote>