Not too sure about this. The two items that change things from better to worse are medical costs and college costs. Those are both optional costs, that can be set at any level desired. Inexpensive medical insurance does exist, it just doesn’t cover many of the things developed since the 1970s. If you were satisfied with 1970s level care you wouldn’t pay more. College as well, if you go to a community college (or do without, like most people in the 1970s), you costs would be the same.
People want to buy more health care because it is available and they can afford it. That is a good thing. People buy more education because they think it will help them. I’m more on the fence about that, but I don’t think I can second guess people’s desires.
I’ll bet he didn’t address this: We brought more and more women into the workplace – thereby producing a labor glut and effectively lowering wages. Now we’re locked into two incomes to maintain the same standard of living from when men dominated the labor market and the country was mass deporting illegals.
Some of that is not accurate. Live at 1970 standards and you can live quite well on 2020 income. Takes a bit of thought though.
To start off, much of the live well on a single income back when is a myth. Houses were much smaller on average with far less amenities. Mobile homes were an upgrade for large segments of the population. Cars didn’t normally reach 100,000 miles without damned effective maintenance, and major repairs were still often needed. Women in the household had a lot less labor saving devices and worked their butts off on average.
Buy an older house in a cheaper neighborhood. Buy vehicles with at least 100,000 miles on them already and then put 150,00-200,000 more on them. Learn from all the free/low cost sources out there, as most college is credentialism. Pay cash for medical and pay attention to where you get it. And so on. It works for me.
The truth in the financial problems mentioned are in two areas. Government intervention and regulation driving costs through the roof in several fields. And people making terrible choices with their finances buying too much house, car, useless degrees, etc… .
Household expenses since 1970 increased for property taxes (usually school taxes), sales taxes, and similar state or local taxes.
Not too sure about this. The two items that change things from better to worse are medical costs and college costs. Those are both optional costs, that can be set at any level desired. Inexpensive medical insurance does exist, it just doesn’t cover many of the things developed since the 1970s. If you were satisfied with 1970s level care you wouldn’t pay more. College as well, if you go to a community college (or do without, like most people in the 1970s), you costs would be the same.
People want to buy more health care because it is available and they can afford it. That is a good thing. People buy more education because they think it will help them. I’m more on the fence about that, but I don’t think I can second guess people’s desires.
I’ll bet he didn’t address this: We brought more and more women into the workplace – thereby producing a labor glut and effectively lowering wages. Now we’re locked into two incomes to maintain the same standard of living from when men dominated the labor market and the country was mass deporting illegals.
Some of that is not accurate. Live at 1970 standards and you can live quite well on 2020 income. Takes a bit of thought though.
To start off, much of the live well on a single income back when is a myth. Houses were much smaller on average with far less amenities. Mobile homes were an upgrade for large segments of the population. Cars didn’t normally reach 100,000 miles without damned effective maintenance, and major repairs were still often needed. Women in the household had a lot less labor saving devices and worked their butts off on average.
Buy an older house in a cheaper neighborhood. Buy vehicles with at least 100,000 miles on them already and then put 150,00-200,000 more on them. Learn from all the free/low cost sources out there, as most college is credentialism. Pay cash for medical and pay attention to where you get it. And so on. It works for me.
The truth in the financial problems mentioned are in two areas. Government intervention and regulation driving costs through the roof in several fields. And people making terrible choices with their finances buying too much house, car, useless degrees, etc… .
Household expenses since 1970 increased for property taxes (usually school taxes), sales taxes, and similar state or local taxes.
Idly wondering if Simberg has gotten senile.
I doubt if any intelligent person cares what you wonder, idly or otherwise.