1999 20 Years On

The NYT's Ross Douthat writes an interesting article about the late 1990's. He describes the time thusly:

If you were born around 1980, you grew up in a space happily between — between eras of existential threat (Cold War/War on Terror, or Cold War/climate change), between foreign policy debacles (Vietnam/Iraq), between epidemics (crack and AIDS/opioids and suicide), and between two different periods of economic stagnation (the ’70s and early Aughts). If you were born later, you experienced slow growth followed by financial crisis followed by a recovery that’s only lately returned us to the median-income and unemployment stats of … 1999.

This is exactly right. 

After nearly a decade of peace and economic growth, 1999 was a year of boundless optimism. The stock market grew and grew, Dow 30,000 some said. Everyone had a job. New careers two writing code, developing websites.

The National crime rate was plummeting. Inner cities were bein revived by ball parks and gentry tourism. Rudy Giuliani cleaned up Time Square. 

Tech spread everywhere. The internet, Windows, cell phones, sat TV. 

Our great political scandal was Clinton/Lewinsky. Even so Bill and Newt cut a deal that balanced the budget. The National Debt Clock actually wound down.

Douthat describes 'just enough internet'. That is, the internet of Amazon, and news, and chat rooms. Douthat's internet wasn't a sphere all its own but a way to find and learn things and connect with people. 

Even the things we were worried about turned out to be no big deal. Anyone else remember Y2K? 

The 90s were almost like Start Trek TNG, where personal improvement and growth were the paramount human endeavors.

And it all came crashing down on 9/11/2001.