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Once upon time, a family could afford almost everything with ONE income

10 points by redbell 3y ago

bediger4000 3y ago
Isn't that the nature of free market competition? The price of a good is supposed to reach its marginal cost of production in a competitive, free market. Labor is no different, pay will approach some analog of marginal cost.
neverrroot 3y ago
Debt, luxurious vacations/cars/electronics, so many temptations. Expensive rather luxurious housing (not the cheap stuff from before). Different mindset, virtually no savings. And a steep decline in real income compared to before 1970.
xchip 3y ago
Same thing in Spain, a man with an average job could maintain his wife and 2 kids, it was normal to own a car and an appartment (and pay it with a 5 years mortage)
ajuc 3y ago
In a very small, privileged portion of the world that got rich by abusing the rest.
- NoRelToEmber 3y ago
  In Yugoslavia, a family with a single modest income (relative to Yugoslavian incomes) could afford a house with a garden, a cheap car, and to support two children, including college. That was about 60 years ago.
  - ajuc 3y ago
    Yugoslavia was a communist country, same as Poland where I'm from, if a little richer. Technically you could afford a home and a car in communist Poland easily, too. Prices and salaries were set by the state. The problem was that waiting list for actually buying the car/home you could theoretically afford was 20 years :) If you waited for your car (or had contacts that let you skip the wait) and bought it - you could then immediately sell it for 5 times the original price on the black market :) But almost nobody did - because money had little use. Wasn't it similar in Yugoslavia? It seems so - according to https://rememberingyugoslavia.com/podcast-fico-zastava-750/ https://rememberingyugoslavia.com/podcast-fico-zastava-750/ in 1969 there were 82 cars per 1,000 people :) Not eactly the workers' paradise you present it as, BTW: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_the_Socialist_Federal_Republic_of_Yugoslavia#1950s_and_1960s https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_the_Socialist_Feder... > Unemployment was a chronic problem for Yugoslavia.[20] The unemployment rates were among the highest in Europe during its existence, while the education level of the work force increased steadily.[20] The unemployment rate reached 7% in the early 1960s and continued to grow, doubling by the mid 1970s. There were extreme regional differences in unemployment, with the Slovenian rate never exceeding 5%, while Macedonia and Kosovo constantly had rates over 20%.[21] There was also a notable element of gender discrimination in the unemployment rate. When forced to cut workforce, enterprises usually fired women first,[22] expecting that women can be supported by their male family members.[23] Some enterprises also requested that candidates for a job needed to have their military service completed, which excluded women.[24] Female participation rates were lower than in other socialist countries and closer to traditionalist societies of Southern Europe.[22] If a country turns into a civil war clusterfuck the moment the state control loosens up slightly - there must have been something seriously wrong with it.

10 points by redbell 3y ago

Isn't that the nature of free market competition? The price of a good is supposed to reach its marginal cost of production in a competitive, free market. Labor is no different, pay will approach some analog of marginal cost.

neverrroot 3y ago

Debt, luxurious vacations/cars/electronics, so many temptations. Expensive rather luxurious housing (not the cheap stuff from before). Different mindset, virtually no savings. And a steep decline in real income compared to before 1970.

xchip 3y ago

Same thing in Spain, a man with an average job could maintain his wife and 2 kids, it was normal to own a car and an appartment (and pay it with a 5 years mortage)

ajuc 3y ago

In a very small, privileged portion of the world that got rich by abusing the rest.

NoRelToEmber 3y ago
In Yugoslavia, a family with a single modest income (relative to Yugoslavian incomes) could afford a house with a garden, a cheap car, and to support two children, including college. That was about 60 years ago.
- ajuc 3y ago
  Yugoslavia was a communist country, same as Poland where I'm from, if a little richer. Technically you could afford a home and a car in communist Poland easily, too. Prices and salaries were set by the state. The problem was that waiting list for actually buying the car/home you could theoretically afford was 20 years :) If you waited for your car (or had contacts that let you skip the wait) and bought it - you could then immediately sell it for 5 times the original price on the black market :) But almost nobody did - because money had little use. Wasn't it similar in Yugoslavia? It seems so - according to https://rememberingyugoslavia.com/podcast-fico-zastava-750/ https://rememberingyugoslavia.com/podcast-fico-zastava-750/ in 1969 there were 82 cars per 1,000 people :) Not eactly the workers' paradise you present it as, BTW: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_the_Socialist_Federal_Republic_of_Yugoslavia#1950s_and_1960s https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_the_Socialist_Feder... > Unemployment was a chronic problem for Yugoslavia.[20] The unemployment rates were among the highest in Europe during its existence, while the education level of the work force increased steadily.[20] The unemployment rate reached 7% in the early 1960s and continued to grow, doubling by the mid 1970s. There were extreme regional differences in unemployment, with the Slovenian rate never exceeding 5%, while Macedonia and Kosovo constantly had rates over 20%.[21] There was also a notable element of gender discrimination in the unemployment rate. When forced to cut workforce, enterprises usually fired women first,[22] expecting that women can be supported by their male family members.[23] Some enterprises also requested that candidates for a job needed to have their military service completed, which excluded women.[24] Female participation rates were lower than in other socialist countries and closer to traditionalist societies of Southern Europe.[22] If a country turns into a civil war clusterfuck the moment the state control loosens up slightly - there must have been something seriously wrong with it.