The exception was the period from 1979 to 1998, when the homeownership rate stagnated. In the last two years the homeownership rate has finally passed its previous peak, but the cumulative gain over the last two decades has been just 1.2 percentage points. This compares with a 3.1 percentage point gain from 1965 to 1979. Even the limited gain in homeownership is attributable primarily to the fact that the population is aging and homeownership rates increase with age. In every age category, homeownership rates are below their 1979 peak.
Most surveys continue to show very high layoff rates and a high level of job insecurity.
In addition, the number of people without health care insurance has been rising over the last decade and now stands at more than 44 million. In short, there are many positive aspects to the current economic situation, particularly when compared to the eighties and early nineties. But, for most people, there is little basis for the sort of superlatives used in this article. This article reports on a campaign rally for Vice President Gore and Senator Lieberman. It is impossible for other government agencies to 'raid' the Social Security and Medicare trust funds.