>> I think you'll be hard pressed to find a single category in which contemporary Americans have less than 1970's Americans, for any reasonable value of x. x =

>> I think you'll be hard pressed to find a single category in which contemporary Americans have less than 1970's Americans, for any reasonable value of x. x = time and unencumbered balance sheets. The gains you indicate are partially the result of the other 50% of working-age adults (women) entering the labor force. The expected outcome of this is average household income increasing ~100%, with net increasing somewhat less due to childcare expenses. Arguably this trend had mostly played out by the early 90s, when consumer debt came to the rescue in the forms of credit cards, securitized mortgages, and educational loans, which allowed the trend to continue. Outstanding consumer debt is much higher today than in 1970. So while economic growth and technological progress have helped the middle class, they don't tell the whole story. And taken alone, they don't provide a useful roadmap for the future.