Do I feel like I grew up in America's "Golden Age" to some degree "Yes"

 What was that Golden Age?

I would say economically at least it was about 1950 to 1970 until the Arab Oil Embargo. Why?

Because the average white male could make enough money as a carpenter or garbage man to support about 5 people by himself, by a house and buy a car by age 17 years old even without a High School Diploma.

So, my description of the "Golden Age" was caused actually by World war II and the U.S. helping other nations get back on their feet and making them loans and the economic prosperity that came to the U.S. in the form of  "buying power" that the poor and the middle Class had (especially white men did in the 1950s to the 1970s.

What ended this buying power?

The Arab Oil embargo ended the prosperity of the middle Class and poor and it has gotten worse every since.

For example, I could make at age 16 working part time 3 dollars an hour which was 3 times the minimum Wage and buy myself my first car one month after I turned 16 years old. Then since Gasoline was only 17 cents a Gallon some places I could afford to drive my 1956 Ford StationWagon up to 400 miles a weekend and explore the mountains, deserts and beaches of southern California especially. Can young people do this now?

Not like then. And I was raised mostly middle Class and bought my car and gas with my own money from working part time from age 12 through 18 when I went to college. and then by 19 or 20 I could afford to buy a new 1968 Camaro (as long as I lived at home with my parents so I could afford the car payments and insurance).

So, economically at least, 1950 to 1970 was a boom time for the middle Class and poor in the U.S. in this sense and ended forever because Gasoline went from 17 cents a gallon to 1 Dollar a gallon within a few years.