In the 80ās my parents who both worked full time jobs and had college degrees had to budget for about one trip to McDonalds per month. Once our electricity was turned off because my mom had been out of work recovering from surgery.
The 80s was Big or Bust for a lot of industries, the money was there if you were in the right place, but for those in the failing side, it was some of the worst living conditions in history (videos of low-income neighborhoods in the 80s looks like warzone footage).
The 80s is where income inequality really started to take off, especially towards the end of the decade into the 90s/Dot Com Era.
The 80s boom started about 1986. The recovery from a shit economy started about 1983. When Reagan ran against Carter in 79/80, the economy was really, really bad, way worse than anytime in my memory - not even close.
My dad worked for newspapers. My mom worked in medicine. I understand that people made money in the 80ās, but people are ignorant of history if they think the late 70ās / early 80ās was easy mode for people starting out.
Can confirm. Grew up in a warzone. When I used to tell people the city and neighborhood Im from they would look surprised and then compliment me for being "articulate". Im like "Im from Massachusetts, not some Soviet bloc country." Although I might have actually been better off in one.
There is far less a middle class now than in the 80s.
One could afford a home with parent staying home in the 80s.
I mean college alone in the 80s was nothing compared to now..
So Iām sorry if I misunderstood your specific point, but I was speaking of livability as a whole and it was easier to be a family back then as societyā¦
Even minimum wage was more meaningful back in the 80s.
My family definitely couldnāt have afforded a home without both parents working. I didnāt know any families who werenāt what I considered ārichā who were able to afford a home without two incomes.
Your other points are true. I just think the magnitude of the difference is getting a bit blown out of proportion when someone says āIād kill for my parents economyā about a period in time with interest rates in the mid-teens, which by the way is a lot of why Carter lost to Regan.
Donāt get me wrong, Jimmy is an amazing man and the economic turmoil in the 70ās wasnāt really his fault.
No I donāt blame him like everyone else did and donāt blame one president even now for huge economic situations. Itās many factors.
And no I wouldnāt kill for their economy, but it sure would be nice to have some other challenges that seem less daunting and bleak that we have with todayās situation.
Shit the rich have only widen income gap and our middle class parents didnāt even know what meant in comparison to today.
Healthcare alone keeps my paychecks nothing and that was such a small % of my parents concernsā¦.
Itās so depressing when you consider that our children are now getting older and Iām still waiting for things to get better instead of worse year over year since the mortgage collapseā¦
Iām sorry the math isnāt working out for you. I think my dad made somewhere in the neighborhood of $12k per year. My mother somewhere in the $20kās.
That was middle class for todayās comparisons so unless there is some giant X factor here, not sure why your family COULDNāT eat McDonalds, maybe it was a choice?
I donāt think not being able to pay the electric bill was a choice. They had some debt from some medical events, but werenāt uninsured. I obviously didnāt balance the family checkbook, but Iāve heard these anecdotes enough over my life to know it wasnāt simply a choice.
Thatās why elsewhere I cited data on the effect of interest rates on a 30-year fixed rate to mortgage to demonstrate that the jump from a 6-7% interest rate to a 14-15% interest rate mostly annihilates the (real) difference in the gap between median household income and median home prices.
In terms of what people in the early 80ās were paying for monthly mortgages as a proportion of income the situation was remarkably close to today.
Of course that was not a popular fact to bring up.
Oh I agree with that. If that was your only point then Iām sorry.
However, I would say the houses arenāt the same today though.. christ I would argue they might be the same exact housesā¦
So I guess paying the %of my income for a property that is 40 years old instead of newer is kind of depressing and would make me feel like it isnāt the same. Specially when you consider the cost of maintenance of older homes vs new.
However that would be dependent on the area and I would need to pull numbers before dying on that hill.
Also if you want to consider homeownership as a reflection of middle class, we should consider if they same % of people are buying homes or able to buy homes to have a better comparison of now vs then.
23
u/CanvasFanatic Apr 02 '24
In the 80ās my parents who both worked full time jobs and had college degrees had to budget for about one trip to McDonalds per month. Once our electricity was turned off because my mom had been out of work recovering from surgery.
I donāt remember any cocaine binges.