Anyone who claims the lack of joy about the 250th is a function of a rough economy was not alive in 1976.
The country rocked in its 200th celebration and the economy was a FREAKING MESS.
There is this Gen Z misconception that the '70s and early '80s were some sort of economic golden age of readily available, well-paying jobs, low cost housing and an all around sense of prosperity.
WRONG.
Google "Stagflation." Google "gas lines." Google "mortgage interest rates in the 1980s."
Our economy today is a golden age by comparison, without exaggeration.
Yet somehow in 1976 we could gleefully celebrate our nation's birthday without Democrats turning it into a Howard Zinn-inspired anti-history hatefest.