ValentineWeather and DRoberts,
I think that the youngsters are just so immersed in what they think is 'subservient technology' (that most of us here know as 'the surveillance apparatus', eh?), with which they can obtain almost any information, including local weather, that they don't have much interest in doing it themselves. Kind of like how 'games' and VR are taking over them (and younger, like the grandkids), in iieu of the actual reality we all lived way back when.
Jim_S, the mcmansion is my d's first house, SiL's second/third. My first from the ~same time out in a 'burb w/big lot was $14.5K and seemed like a lot of dinero back then. Today they spend ~$400K+ (w/mtg) and barely blink.
CW2274, both d and SiL are former mil officers, don't know if they used VA, but don't think so (d is mid-mgmt with a major mil-related co. that does mtgs).
Y'all remember that good things like the VA, SS, etc. come from a political side that doesn't seem to be too popular around here?
miraculon, perhaps you might take a few Econ courses, it ain't so simple. Inflation is pretty well a part of growth.
Check out the US Treasury website "Debt to the Penny":
https://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/debt/current to see the National Debt* (which is also tied into all that stuff).
What's neat is that you can specify a range of dates, or a single date. Go ahead, plug in the terms of the various US Presidents (plus or minus of course, as the prez isn't all of it, and it all overlaps some), it might be a bit surprising...to some of you.
* Nat Debt Currently = 02/19/2019
[16,185,653,238,798.50 (publicly held, incl foreign held) + 5,855,013,716,281.97 (intra-gov held, IE: SocSec Trust Fund, etc)] = $22,040,666,955,080.47 Total National Debt (a/o Tuesday).