A simpler time?

Many are saying that our current state of economy is mirroring that of the 70's....housing markets were plumeting, we were amidst a war with no end, jobs were paying only enough to pay taxes....but I look at these pictures and think, is it really similiar? We did face some of the same "problems" but, as a United States, it seemed that we were joined on a deeper level. Abandoning material items, and coming together under a common entity..PEACE. I am a hippie at heart, and is it wrong that I wish for this?