Changes to America's middle class since the '70s

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I read the article, but tend to think that the downward slid actually began in the '60’s with the “New Great Society” which was the start of the USA becoming a welfare nation. Before that most Americans were working if they were able. Granted that the working poor were in menial jobs, but generally not in the “system.” I am often wrong, but willing to learn. Peace.
 
I prefer to focus on the changes to the poor. They have cell phones, cars, wifi, HD big screen TVs, etc. More than kings and queens had fifty years ago. Entertainment and knowledge at the tip of their fingers all for the taking at anytime. What a great blessing the poor in America have at hand to make their lives better.

We need more spiritual works of mercy in this day and age. Income inequality is no where near the problem of spiritual inequality.
 
EXdrinker said:
I prefer to focus on the changes to the poor. They have cell phones, cars, wifi, HD big screen TVs, etc. More than kings and queens had fifty years ago. Entertainment and knowledge at the tip of their fingers all for the taking at anytime. What a great blessing the poor in America have at hand to make their lives better.

We need more spiritual works of mercy in this day and age. Income inequality is no where near the problem of spiritual inequality.
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A person finds a way to afford a big TV and a cell phone, but they can no longer come close to buying a home. We have traded passing comforts for stability. People are willing to accept lower wages while the cost of living increases, as long as they can be entertained.

My parents struggled to buy their home, but they did not see it as a commodity, as simply a means to greater wealth. Nowadays, wealthy people routinely “flip” houses in my neighborhood, or buy modest homes, and then tear them down and build McMansions, with no thought of ever living there, only selling them at greater profit. Greed, I think, is the major symptom of the spiritual inequality you mention.
 
christofirst said:
A person finds a way to afford a big TV and a cell phone, but they can no longer come close to buying a home. We have traded passing comforts for stability. People are willing to accept lower wages while the cost of living increases, as long as they can be entertained.

My parents struggled to buy their home, but they did not see it as a commodity, as simply a means to greater wealth. Nowadays, wealthy people routinely “flip” houses in my neighborhood, or buy modest homes, and then tear them down and build McMansions, with no thought of ever living there, only selling them at greater profit. Greed, I think, is the major symptom of the spiritual inequality you mention.
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How does one make a profit building houses that nobody can afford?
 
stinkcat_14 said:
How does one make a profit building houses that nobody can afford?
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Sometimes it seems like a shell game around here. I’ve seen the same house on the market several times in a matter of a few years, with each potential seller hoping to squeeze out a little more profit, and each buyer never intending to live there. We live near a college, so the bigger McMansions often become boarding houses for multiple students, but again, there is no stability.
 
stinkcat_14 said:
How does one make a profit building houses that nobody can afford?
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Lol exactly. Nobody *can *afford it so they put it all on credit, which means there is no actual money there, which is why the market crashed in '08 among other reasons… too many people buying houses they cant afford. there’s trillions of dollars floating around but only a portion of that is real and backed up. the rest is all just numbers on a computer… freaky stuff if you ask me. :confused:
 
As Jesu said, “The poor will always be with you.” However, thinking we can legislate poverty away is not very practical. There are those that need assistance and should get it. There are those that get assistance and get it, but abuse the system.

I have small TV and the Internet. I am happy to have them, but I-I-pay for them as I need them for health reasons. There a lot of people that are just like me.

In many instances poverty is a state of mind and not a reality. I have written this before and someone “stole” it.

As long as I have a warm bed to sleep in, a roof over my head and food on the table, I am not poor. Across the far reaches of the world there are so many-those that have none of these three blessings. I do count my blessings.

While it may not be Constitutional, I would be happy to see a lot of the system abusers taken off the streets and stranded on a remote island somewhere. “If you give a man a fish he will eat for a day. If you teach a man to fish he will eat for his lifetime.” I would give each system abuser a fishing pole and a can of worms. LOL-Peace.😃
 
I watched the changes as they occurred. Prior to the 1980s, most moms were stay at home moms. There is this odd notion, portrayed by Hollywood and others, that stay at home moms were wrong about their decision. That, combined with the greed of developers who wanted to begin tearing down the relatively local woods and building “better” neighborhoods there was OK - the greed part was not immediately visible. It was generally portrayed as “move into a better neighborhood.” Meanwhile, anarchists and agitators were targeting women and sowing the seeds of discontent.

The so-called middle class was mostly content with what they had. I lived in a middle-class neighborhood, went to Catholic school and was content with what we had. Most of us. We didn’t need new appliances as long as the old appliances were cleaned and kept up. We didn’t need a new TV, much less a color TV, when me and my dad could go to the local drug store, use their tube tester, and buy replacement tubes for our TV. We didn’t need to buy a new car every 3 or 5 years as long as our current car was maintained. And it was.

No, discontent was sown among a people that didn’t mind not owning the latest gadget and we were content with what we had. But gradually, due to believing that living in “nicer” (looking, but that’s all) neighborhoods was a good thing, the prices of homes began to increase. It was becoming impossible for only one parent to work. Later, this led to a “I gotta get more stuff” attitude partly fueled by the greater use of credit cards. I didn’t get my first credit card until the '90s. I mean why should I pay a percentage to anyone for anything? Cash was fine. Putting some money aside was fine. Having limits was fine. But, by the '90s, running your card to the max was considered fine. Never a good idea.

In the meantime, greed and dysfunctional living had spread greatly. Temptations had spread greatly. Communities of people were disintegrating. God was buried under layer after layer of excuses and the words of false and bad role models.

The planned global economic collapse of 2008 is still being felt.

Ed
 
You know, things are not getting better. Morality and ethics should start at the top and have a “trickle down effect.” It is one of the reasons that I always liked Carter. He was a good man before he became President and has remained a good man. Good guys don’t do well in the City of Sin, aka Washington, D. C.
 
Today’s middle class doesn’t have the same buying power it did in the '70s. Houses used to be affordable on 1 income. That is no longer true. Most employees working for large companies also had employer-paid health insurance, at least for the employee and sometimes for the family too.
While it’s true that most people have cell phones, in many cases it is instead of a landline and the cell phone is the cheaper option.
Yes, many people are into luxuries we didn’t use to have. I still don’t have cable tv. Internet is a necessity these days, but someone can still get a prepaid minimal internet amount and go to the library for more usage for free. I grew up with parents who were children during the Depression. So I was taught to repair and re-use things. Many people forget that you can do things like take shoes to get them repaired instead of throwing them away and getting new ones.
 
I lived in third world countries before.

For me indoor plumbing is a great blessing.
 
Sarcelle said:
I lived in third world countries before.

For me indoor plumbing is a great blessing.
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It is a great blessing. They say that every American has access to indoor or at least convenient plumbing. Unless of course, they choose to do without.

I hardly even listen when people complain about the “poor” having large televisions. Or comparing one group in poverty with another from a less wealthy nation. As if to say, we are not that evil as our poor are better of then someone else’s. Attacking the poor is not very becoming I think. Extreme poverty, absolute poverty, or destitution, was originally defined by the United Nations in 1995 as "a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information.
Extreme poverty - Wikipedia This gives us quite a range to focus on. I know that John Paul II once said that poverty was the greatest evil we face. I think he was right. AS the strongest nation the world has ever seen there is no excuse for poverty of any kind. Even those addicted to alcohol, and drugs living in abandoned buildings should have access to healthcare, food, and sanitation.

I know about the USA, Canada, and to a certain extent Mexico. Each has it’s own version of poverty. Americans for the most part worked to raise themselves up whether from abject poverty like my family, or to a higher social level. The tools they used were hard work, and education. These are still the most useful tools to own. As more entered the middle class or lower middle class certain changes entered the picture. Ed above mentioned discontent with many things including woman working in the home. Well when you increase the work force by 50% there is going to be an effect on wages. Couple that with a steady decline in union membership, and the weirdest thing off all conspicuous consumption. People went kind of nuts. 🤷

Drugs are a convenient scapegoat but the culture did a complete 180 in the seventies. People left the church and ended up with no tools to guide their children. Schools moved away from discipline and we all saw what happened.

Stable neighborhoods fell by the wayside as people strove to buy better or at least bigger homes. Cities were abandoned in favor of suburbs leaving behind infrastructures that were expensive to maintain. A cop I know pointed out as we fell into the last recession that the middle class was going to end up right where they were in 1962. Small homes with small yards and not much else. My own prediction is less bright. I think we’ll see the lower middle class working at temporary jobs and moving often to find work. Their wages will be low, and their possessions few. Maybe technology will be their SOMA (“All the advantages of Christianity and alcohol; none of their defects.”) as they live in their rented homes with many things still in the moving boxes. I’ll be very happy to see this not come about.

ATB
 
We are rapidly becoming a two-class society. That’s fine with me if the plan is to end poverty.

Why do we need a nice house and fast cars? As long as God blesses me through His grace, I really only need the necessities of life. The very best things that happen in this life are free and are experienced from within. These things cannot be bought.
 
Mickey_Finn said:
It is a great blessing. They say that every American has access to indoor or at least convenient plumbing. Unless of course, they choose to do without.

I hardly even listen when people complain about the “poor” having large televisions. Or comparing one group in poverty with another from a less wealthy nation. As if to say, we are not that evil as our poor are better of then someone else’s. Attacking the poor is not very becoming I think. Extreme poverty, absolute poverty, or destitution, was originally defined by the United Nations in 1995 as "a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information.
Extreme poverty - Wikipedia This gives us quite a range to focus on. I know that John Paul II once said that poverty was the greatest evil we face. I think he was right. AS the strongest nation the world has ever seen there is no excuse for poverty of any kind. Even those addicted to alcohol, and drugs living in abandoned buildings should have access to healthcare, food, and sanitation.

I know about the USA, Canada, and to a certain extent Mexico. Each has it’s own version of poverty. Americans for the most part worked to raise themselves up whether from abject poverty like my family, or to a higher social level. The tools they used were hard work, and education. These are still the most useful tools to own. As more entered the middle class or lower middle class certain changes entered the picture. Ed above mentioned discontent with many things including woman working in the home. Well when you increase the work force by 50% there is going to be an effect on wages. Couple that with a steady decline in union membership, and the weirdest thing off all conspicuous consumption. People went kind of nuts. 🤷

Drugs are a convenient scapegoat but the culture did a complete 180 in the seventies. People left the church and ended up with no tools to guide their children. Schools moved away from discipline and we all saw what happened.

Stable neighborhoods fell by the wayside as people strove to buy better or at least bigger homes. Cities were abandoned in favor of suburbs leaving behind infrastructures that were expensive to maintain. A cop I know pointed out as we fell into the last recession that the middle class was going to end up right where they were in 1962. Small homes with small yards and not much else. My own prediction is less bright. I think we’ll see the lower middle class working at temporary jobs and moving often to find work. Their wages will be low, and their possessions few. Maybe technology will be their SOMA (“All the advantages of Christianity and alcohol; none of their defects.”) as they live in their rented homes with many things still in the moving boxes. I’ll be very happy to see this not come about.

ATB
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The preaching of the gospel of the Hippies and the Radicals convinced some, then more, then more, that using illegal drugs was just fine, that living with and having sex with your girlfriend was OK. There was no authority greater than them. “Don’t trust anyone over 30!” My Hippie friend in the 1970s looked like he just walked out of Hippie Boot Camp. He had the regulation length hair, the regulation clothes, he smoked dope regularly, and spoke Hippie-speak. God, parents and the Church didn’t matter anymore. Sex outside of marriage, he said, was “performing natural acts.” And they lived out their “alternative lifestyles” in public.

In the 1970s, right on the edge of the Wayne State University campus, was a bookstore stacked floor to ceiling with books about Eastern mysticism. Those books did not get there by themselves. In fact, any philosophy, as long as it wasn’t Christian, was OK. The Church didn’t abandon anyone who wanted to stay in the 1970s.

Destroying the family was the goal.

Ed

I lived in a small home with a small yard in 1962 like most of my neighbors, and we were content with what we had. I don’t own the latest gadgets. I don’t need them. I was taught, “if you don’t need it and don’t have the money, you don’t buy it.” I was taught to “do without” and it’s worked ever since.
 
Am I the only one that sees a particularly hideous intelligence at work behind it all?

Many seemingly unrelated social movements that all result in harm to the family.
 
vz71 said:
Am I the only one that sees a particularly hideous intelligence at work behind it all?

Many seemingly unrelated social movements that all result in harm to the family.
Click to expand...
Its ALL connected, Satan has control over this world right now, we are fools if we think he is not using that to his benefit. The hard thing is though, its tough for most people to spot, his actions are ‘disguised’ as other things, less important things, as to make it easier for people to make the choice. He is much more intelligent than we are.
 
Thanks.

It is one or those connect the dots puzzles that even once worked out looks unreal. But it is.
 
I can’t prove it statistically, but it’s a lot more expensive to be “middle class” now than it used to be.

When I was a kid, most people now would think of us as “poor”. No running water. No indoor plumbing. House heated by a large rock fireplace of an old style that held and radiated a lot more heat than fireplaces do now. For light, we had kerosene lamps and these harrowingly dangerous lamps that burned “white gasoline”. But we weren’t considered “poor” for the neighborhood because in that era the area where I live was really primitive and poor.

As a teenager, my family would have been considered “middle class”. We lived in that same house, but had indoor plumbing and electricity. We had one car (bought used) and, miracle of miracles, at a point in time we even had two! Neither car had AC. Neither had anything electronic. No air bags. No GPS.

But my wife, who grew up in a big city, would have thought us poor; not so much because of money differences between my family and hers, but because, as urban dwellers they had so much more available to them. They had television years before we did. As a kid, we listened to the radio. Radios were really inexpensive. They wore clothes we would have thought remarkable. But that was because they had them available, where we didn’t.

We sang and played the piano for much of our entertainment, where my wife had all sorts of entertaining things available to her. But they all cost money. We did ride horses, because country horses were dirt cheap. They were cheap because farmers had just started using tractors and idle horses were everywhere. My wife didn’t ride because in the city only the rich could do that.

A lot of what people think of as a “middle class life” is simply relative to what others have available to them and obtain. Where I live, it’s not strange at all for, say, a dentist to live in an 80 year old house in a mixed-class neighborhood. In the city, you don’t do that.

I have a brother who lives in a fairly upscale suburb of a large city. It was inconceivable to him to NOT live there because the schools elsewhere were bad, the neighborhoods elsewhere were dangerous and there were few infrastructure benefits in living elsewhere. He can’t have a pickup parked in his yard, like I can. He has to wear better clothing than I have to. He has “common elements” to pay for, where I don’t. He paid to send his kids to the subdivision “club” swimming pool, where I didn’t. Unless you live in a stable “ethnic” neighborhood in a major city (like “The Hill” in St. Louis) you can’t live where it’s cheap. You have to spend a lot of money if you want to live middle class. And to spend it, you have to make it.

My brother is a good man, and I don’t blame him for what he felt he had to do to have a decent life. But in terms of wealth, I have more than he does. And our social status is no different. We’re both “middle class” where we live. But his “middle classness” costs so much more.

I sometimes think the economics and social structure of our time is nuts. The very structure of our cities and infrastructure mandates a socioeconomic segregation that sometimes seems to me nearly as rigid as the caste system in India.
 
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