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I’m 53 and my own grampa worked in a supervisory role at a paper mill and my grandma worked part time at a shoe factory. They had seven kids and were only barely above poverty, low middle class. They were always broke.
I’m 51 and both sets of my grandparents were in similar situations. The definition of “getting by” was much lower then.
There’s a reason people hate Reagan and ‘trickle-down economics’
But the kids were shopping the clearance rack at JCPenney and Sears. Wife had a garden or did some canning. They probably just shopped the sales for only things they need.
Candy was a treat and eating out was unheard of.
Kids played outside with sticks and stones. May or may not have had a bike.
Household was only one car.
Neighborhoods helped each other out.
Agree with both above - “middle class” had a very different set of expectations than it does today. Retirement also came with different expectations.
BUT, college and healthcare did cost way less, even adjusting for inflation- so that aspect checks out.
Pretty sure some of the changes are:
* Greater divides between earners at top and bottom, see below.
* Safety nets like pensions, full coverage healthcare and social secruity disappearing
* Increase in how many median household incomes there are per median home price, since 1960 this value has increased 4x
* Some sectors significantly outpacing inflation for example education. College cost increased 5.2x faster than salaries since 1980 and degrees are now required significantly more.
* Our grandparents / their parents living through great depression and being used to having nothing.