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

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]You can have that right now with a working class job. I have relatives in Kentucky working at a major chain hotel who own their own home, and their kids went to college on scholarships. I have other relatives who own their own home in Damascus Md, working as fast food managers. Their son went to med school on loans. They moved there on purpose with a plan. They focused on launching their kids. Now the next generation are all professional high earners.

Anyone who is sound of mind and able bodied could attain the American dream. My opinion is that the major barrier for most people is that they haven't learned the value of delayed gratification and strategic planning. [/quote]

You don’t realize you are actually proving the opposite.

In the 1950s, you didn’t need a scholarship to attend college.  Even the most expensive still didn’t cost that much, and many top universities were free or nearly free.

Your examples above indicate that you need to take out lots of loans, hope for scholarships and live like a pauper (both parents BTW) just to provide what was easily provided by one income 50+ years ago.

That’s not really the definition of a “dream”.[/quote]

My father needed a scholarship to attend a college in the late 1950s. He also worked numerous jobs to afford college. This was not uncommon among his working class demographic.

Yes, tuitions have soared. As have costs of homes generally but not in all areas of the country (my parents house would sell, adjusted for inflation, for about as much today as when they bought it 50 years ago).  But it's also true that what people expect at college, fancy dorms, fancy athletic facilities, fancy dining services, are way different than what was expected in the 1950s when my dad lived all four years in his parent's 1 bedroom 900 sq ft house and took the bus to campus. And expectations of how big a house should be and how many bedrooms and bathrooms have also grown. The average sized house in 1950 was less than 1000 sq ft. Today it's over 2400 sq ft. Even though family size has decreased. If builders were still building smaller houses they'd be much less expensive, you can't disagree with that.

These issues require nuance to understand. Looking back nostalgically at at time when families of 5-10 people lived in small 1-2 bedroom, 1 bathroom houses is bizarre. Yes, those families lived on one salary. Who wants to live in such small housing today? Very few.

Wages at the lower end of the scale absolutely have not grown at enough pace with inflation. Compensation of CEOs and at the high end of the pay scale has skyrocketed to outrageous levels. Unions have lost their grip, though luckily may be making a comeback.

Wage extremism in both directions, high and low, does not do a society good.

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