US Standard Of Living Reaches Lowest Point In 5 Decades...

[VooDoo6Actual]

Correct, but we gave it back to them in 1913 when the US was sold to the private corporation known as The Federal Reserve.

SPOT ON again MK.

Isn't one of the definition's of insanity, to continue to make the same mistakes & expect different results ?

Meet the new bosses, same as the old bosses....

[QuietShootr]

Quit importing a third world country every decade and maybe the lower-middle class could get a head. This isn't difficult.

Don't worry, some asswipe will be along shortly to explain why unrestricted immigration is a great thing.

[markm]

We NEED to pass Ali Bama's Jobs BILL!!!

[SteyrAUG]

our purchasing power used to be huge in the 1950s-60s. The mother of a family didnt even need to work because one income was more than enough to cover a family with multiple kids. Try that today.

Back then we made most of the things we used, didn't expect a high 5 figure income for semi skilled labor and we were mowing our own lawns.

I don't need a McMansion, I'd love to just be able to earn enough to buy a typical suburban house and car, have enough money to feed my family and take care of the important things.

[ForTehNguyen]

Back then we made most of the things we used, didn't expect a high 5 figure income for semi skilled labor and we were mowing our own lawns.

I don't need a McMansion, I'd love to just be able to earn enough to buy a typical suburban house and car, have enough money to feed my family and take care of the important things.

didnt need to go to college to get a well paying job either. Our wages were some of the highest in the world, yet our goods were some of the cheapest due to our manufacturing and productivity

[Belmont31R]

Back then we made most of the things we used, didn't expect a high 5 figure income for semi skilled labor and we were mowing our own lawns.

I don't need a McMansion, I'd love to just be able to earn enough to buy a typical suburban house and car, have enough money to feed my family and take care of the important things.

I posted about this in the wall st thread but basically to have the same discretionary income as people did from the 50's and up to about the 90's you now need dual incomes. This is because taxes have been added (most hidden) or outright raised. Also 'back then' less than 6% of the population had a 4 year degree, and it was a lot cheaper. You simply didn't need a degree to get into most middle income jobs. Now its around 30% with at least a 4 year degree, and much more expensive to obtain. So people start out in life having to spend 10's of thousands of dollars just to get into the same income brackets people were in just 30-40 years ago.



A good example is my dad who was hired as an electrical engineer in the 70's without a degree. He had a couple years of college but his company hired him on because they needed engineers. That was back when we could build refineries and plants w/o tons of red tape and expense. He has worked for the same company and now makes over 20k a month all the while without a degree. It would be impossible for me to provide the same life he did for us now with same level of education. Tax obligations are much higher, and there is no way his company would hire me without a degree. In fact it would be hard even with a BS as even more people now are getting masters.


I think a lot of this has to do with instead of letting the free market work, and letting people choose their own destiny now the gov is pushing the everyone goes to college, everyone gets a house, and everyone needs a job even if bankrupts the country and citizenry. The bachelors becomes the new HS diploma, and the simple family house becomes the McMansion with a truck and a caddy SUV out front. The government sure has not been pushing moderation and living debt free. The consequences of all this is that our kids and people my age today face huge obstacles to having the same quality of life our parents had.