General Discussion

When I was a child in the 1960s most married women could afford to stay home if they wanted to (or even if they didn't want to, which is a whole separate conversation).

Many families with one wage earner could afford a detached home with a backyard, a car, an annual vacation, kids' sports and activities, etc.

Over the past 50 years the middle class has lost so much ground it's almost unbelievable.

My parents bought a fairly large run-down home in 1970 for something like 30,000. In 1985 my then husband and I bought a nice ranch, with three bedrooms, a garage, and a large yard for $75,000. That house recently sold for ten times that price. (And it hadn't been fixed up. The photos on Zillow show the same upgrades we made in 1987.)

Wages have not increased ten times. My spouse and I had no college loans. Many young people are paying $500+ each month for fairly low amounts of loans. They'll be paying this for decades. That's a car payment - and check the it the cost of cars now.