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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Our generation is getting screwed every which way.  Our parents had reasonably priced healthcare, mostly reasonable college costs, company provided pensions.

We both work and can’t afford much past the house and daycare.  Since his family isn’t local, all our vacation time and funds are spent on family visits rather than proper vacations. [/quote]

I think you are idealizing the past.  The standard of living has risen in that people have more stuff.  A middle class existence then would be considered living LMC now.

My family was solidly middle class then and we did not take "proper vacations"!  We visited family or we went camping.  Always driving, no flights.  We hardly went out to eat -- that was a special occasion.  Kids shared rooms and bathrooms.  One telephone line.  One tv with 3 channels.

Now homes have expanded, people think every kid must have their own room, plus a car, and screens are everywhere.  Plus taking proper vacations of course.

I agree that healthcare and education costs have gotten out of hand, but a middle class life was much simpler a few decades ago.  [/quote]

The size of the average single-family home in 1950 was 980 square feet.  It's now 2,641.  People ate the vast majority of their meals at home.  In fact, in the late 1980's, when I moved to DC, there weren't all that many good restaurants.

When I was a kid in the 70's, only rich people took vacations that involved flying on airplanes, much less flying overseas.  Long-distance calls were incredibly expensive.  When I was in college, I could only afford to call my Mom once a week, and we couldn't talk very long. Clothes were relatively expensive, compared to now.  A relatively "cheap" t-shirt was $20, which would be about $110 now (adjusted for inflation).

Agree that the big ticket items (healthcare, education) are more expensive, but with regard to healthcare, we have amazing technology for diagnosis that didn't exist in the 70's, and there are treatments for diseases that used to be a death sentence.

Don't get me started on college costs -- I believe skyrocketing college costs are the direct result of policies that made borrowing money for college easy.  The people who run universities are as susceptible to market forces as anyone else.  If you set up a system that allows them to charge more, they will.  I can't believe what my alma mater looks like these days.  The construction is constant, and there's no more open space left, so they're starting to tear down older buildings to build.  The focus now is on the "experience," not the education.  But again, students have higher expectations -- and they're paying more as a result.  [/quote]

Top university presidents man over a million a year. A YEAR.[/quote]

So do CEOs who don't pay there employees a living wage. What are you upset about?[/quote]

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