Feel free to submit your own items for consideration.

KIDS' STUFF:

Crackerjacks: you used to get a "real prize" in the box, a hefty toy of some kind, not just a sticker or something. 

Candy bars were 5 cents, maybe a dime; ice cream cones, too.

There was a lot less to be scared of -- you could play outside at night --

People in general believed that their future would be better.  We were always being told how much better everything was getting, how modern technology was going to make everything wonderful, how life was going to be easier and more and more fun.  We may have been cynical about some things, but basically we believed it would somehow all work out for the best.  And up through the "hippy" times and beyond, this belief is obvious.  It wasn't till the last half of the '80s that it started to sink in that things were now actually getting worse in general.

"Fair? You thought life might be fair?"

You could actually survive on an average salary.  And save money.

There were NO homeless people on the streets -- that's right, I said NONE.  Going to another country where there were beggars was a shocking experience.  [That is why it was so easy for young people to try this barefoot, hanging-out-on-the-sidewalk "spare change"-ing thing -- there was no negative stigma attached to it in their minds. *   Parents were, however, aghast.]

You think "survival of the fittest" is a decent way to live?  --Please, move to another planet and take that idea with you.

Most people had a lot more home life than people generally have time for today.  The pressure to work overtime is setting a killing pace now.  *

In the newspapers and on TV, the public were talked about as "citizens" more often than "consumers".  This just about says it all as to what is important these days:  If you are not buying, you are not worthy. *

--Libraries were valued institutions, whereas now they struggle to stay open. ...Think of Jimmy Stewart in those black and white movies about "solid American values"; would he have tolerated this kind of crap?

--Schools (high schools), were not like prison camps

But some people like things this way.  Because they can afford not to be bothered by "public" issues, the current state of affairs (if they even go so far as to acknowledge it) makes them feel special.  Too bad the human race continues to produce that kind of damaged specimen.

And man, we haven't even GOTTEN to the toxics! If you haven't read the other articles on this site, check the ones below for some hair-raising new developments:

1) A NEW U.S. WASTE STRATEGY EMERGES

2) How hazardous wastes become fertilizer

3) National Sludge Alliance

("Progress" marches faster and faster into the abyss.)

LESS SERIOUS SHIT:

"Public servants"? Post Office? Social Security? DMV?  Hey, what else can you think of that entails a long tedious wait in line to deal with people who are usually rude and officious? That experience used to be the exception to be remarked on, not the rule.

How often do you hear "The customer is always right" anymore?  That was at least as familiar as "just say no" and "just do it" are now.

(And you NEVER heard anyone say "the bottom line", "go for it", or "cut to the chase", all of which I would be pleased to live without.)

Oh, and television commercials! People's sensibilities have been bludgeoned for so long now with SO many commercials it is almost impossible to remember that before the early '80s they were much more limited -- there were less than 5 minutes allowed per half-hour of programming. Whatever the exact figures were then and are now, believe me the atmosphere created was much less pressured, more considerate of the viewer as something other than just a consumer. The success of the advertising industry at creating slick and irresistible commercials has NOT made this a better world.