...my parents rented a rural cabin on the Delaware River North of Philadelphia where we lived. From mid-Spring through October we spent most weekends and some whole weeks relaxing without the distractions of city noise like traffic and sirens. We owned a small boat that we used for fishing and general recreation. We didn't miss electricity at all. My dad would have a radio to listen to the occasional baseball game. My dad was self employed and often took three or four day weekends. One of the decisions they would talk about was how many whole weeks of vacation he would take.
Fast forwarding to the last 25 years to my own family and our decisions we have little saved for retirement. My children, both in their mid twenties, don't work in their desired fields and in spite of liberal use of community colleges and extraordinary diligence in selecting reasonably priced additional schools and my own help, student loans are still being paid. My last "vacation" lasted almost 19 months. It cost $87,000 leaving me $21,000 in debt after my savings was exhausted. Our decisions were more often, "Can we afford to open 4 cans of tuna fish for dinner or only 3?"
The scope of opportunities has been limited and some tax laws have encouraged what I think of as more protectionist than economically encouraging. In the sixties when JFK cut taxes a bit to encourage economic expansion, it worked. Today, the wealthy get tax cuts and invest money either in banking/finance where risks are mitigated and the only jobs created are few high paying ones or they invest in outsourcing work to cheaper foreign markets. Both of these courses orphan the middle and lower income workers.
People are sick of it. 
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