Was there ever a time when your average nine to fiver could afford the American Dream?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, happened all over America in the 50s, 60s, and 70s.

No it didn't. Most black families could not afford to have one stay at home parent.

Were Black families even Americans in the 70s? They couldn't even be Mormons back then.

In 1965, the country's population was 84% white. Talking about the black American experience doesn't obscure what the reality was still like for the vast majority of Americans.

[Anonymous]

HOMEMAKER DEMOGRAPHICS BY RACE

The most common ethnicity among homemakers is White, which makes up 59.7% of all homemakers. Comparatively, 16.9% of homemakers are Hispanic or Latino and 10.2% of homemakers are Black or African American.

https://www.zippia.com/homemaker-jobs/demographics/#

This seems pretty close to overall US demographics, no?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It isnt that is is unaffordable, rather the American Dream isn’t what it used to be. Due to the internet and social media plus modern technology, people feel highly compelled to be aggressive consumers, far beyond their means. Everything from Stanley mugs to constant take out, Starbucks daily, leasing a new car every 3 years, having tons of clothes (and just an over abundance of stuff in general). People feel they deserve ( and their kids) the best of everything and will buy it.

I guess we’ve gone from blaming Starbucks to Stanleys rather than looking at the cost of education and housing

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:HOMEMAKER DEMOGRAPHICS BY RACE

The most common ethnicity among homemakers is White, which makes up 59.7% of all homemakers. Comparatively, 16.9% of homemakers are Hispanic or Latino and 10.2% of homemakers are Black or African American.

https://www.zippia.com/homemaker-jobs/demographics/#

This seems pretty close to overall US demographics, no?

US demographics:
White: 60.1% (Non-Hispanic)
Hispanic: 18.5%
Black: 12.2%
Asian: 5.6%

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/visualizing-u-s-population-by-race/#

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

My 16 year old daughter blames it on feminists forcing women to work outside the home. I guess my kid isn't picking up on the cues to be a feminist very well.

You sound proud. Even if she chooses to stay home you should encourage her to get an education and be prepared to support her quiver full of kids. Early death and divorces happen despite our best made plans. Sixteen is almost an adult and pretty late for childish fantasies.

The dual income trap is real. As more women entered the workforce, it did lead to a rise in the cost of living and basic goods like housing. IT's simply because families had more money to chase after the same basket of goods. It's an economic phenomena and which in turn caused more women to go back to the workplace and brought the end of housewives to an end. All this is separate from the other arguments of feminism - discrimination against women was absolutely very real.

This is a horribly flawed argument. Housing supply was not nearly as restricted all the way through the 1990s as it is today.

Housing starts were higher throughout the 1980s and 1990s than today (and really since 2008) and house prices really didn’t take off until the late 1990s.

When supply runs well below demand for 20+ years guess what happens to price.