4 ms·

It has been constant for almost half a century for the middle class, yet everyone is working more for the same not less. How exactly can you live better than y

• purple-again 9y ago
  Go watch a sitcom from the 50s and compare it your surroundings. Hopefully you come to the conclusion that your standard of living is immensely greater than theirs was. If you are thinking of things like the cost of college don’t forget to factor in how many people go to college today versus back then. If you are thinking about the cost of housing, we still have the same land and a growing population. I’m city centers the demand has multiplied significantly since then so we expect relative cost of the land to multiply.
  • rectang 9y ago
    In 50s sitcoms, you'll see people working union jobs with pensions. There are a lot fewer of those these days. Even if material wealth has improved, economic insecurity is worse. People feel worse off as a result.
    • dominotw 9y ago
      Yea especially since your skills are technologically obsolete in a less than decade. Software engineering careers for example are uphill battle post 50, you better have your nest egg and kids college funds ready by then.
  • consz 9y ago
    He was talking about his parent's quality of life -- go watch sitcoms from the 90s for that. I'm not sure how the 50s are relevant.
    • geezerjay 9y ago
      Not everyone around here is a 20yo child.
• bandrami 9y ago
  It's not that simple. Back in the 1950s, an 850 square foot home for a family of 4 was respectable middle class housing; today that wouldn't even be legal in some states, let alone socially considered "middle class". Standards of living are just incomparably higher today than 50 years ago
  • psyc 9y ago
    I'm not sure you're comparing apples-to-apples here. My grandfather drove trucks for the city, and my grandmother worked part-time in a factory. They didn't reach high-school. They had 3 kids, always owned their own homes, in a major metro, owned two cars, and always had "modern" appliances and electronics for their time. They felt little or no economic insecurity, and never expressed that they felt they were lacking anything. They retired very comfortably, without any special planning. Which socio-economic class of today would you compare them to?
    • bandrami 9y ago
      > Which socio-economic class of today would you compare them to? Well, that's my point: I'd compare them to the lower-middle or "working" class. Your grandparents had a lower inflation-adjusted income (speaking in general here; obviously there will be exceptions) than truck drivers and part-time factory workers today (though today's need a high school diploma whereas your grandparents didn't). That's why I mentioned the house size: they owned a house that -- in most cases -- would be so small that it couldn't sell on today's market. They owned a car without air conditioning or an entertainment system. You can own a tiny house and a featureless car for very little money today. But people aren't satisfied with the standard of living that satisfied your grandparents.
      • psyc 9y ago
        I doubt even a middle-middle class family could attain their standard of living, within 100 miles of where they lived. Their house was around 1200 sq ft, 3 bedrooms, and is valued at $500k today.