How Things Have Changed......

[LoneLaugher]

There is a lot of discussion on these boards about income inequality and supply side economics and the safety net, etc. It's all good.

I'm interested.....genuinely so....in how others perceive reality so far as the typical middle class family experiences life in America.

As a boy, living in a very typical Upstate New York small town......I think my experience was in many ways typical of middle class life in the 1970s. Here is how I would describe it.

My father.....a WWII veteran landed a civil service job fixing office machines when I was 3. Mom never worked outside the home until I was sophomore in HS. So....on one very blue collar income....we muddled through my childhood years.

My father was able to purchase a 4 bedroom home, two vehicles, every modern appliance, food and clothing and toys and sporting goods and other "necessities" for 4 children. We had access to a military base with a hospital and other services. Going to a doctor or a dentist was never a decision made by looking at a checkbook.

We went on a vacation every summer. We visited family over Christmas break. We ate out occasionaly. We went to a movie whenever we wanted to. We helped support the ice cream man and the local bowling alley.

There was an expectation that we'd go to college and it wouldn't require loans. The old man even went to night school to get his GED because he never finished HS as a kid. Mom was there when we left for school and she was there when we got home. Our real teacher was waiting for us and stood between us and fun.

Awesome, right? All of us did, in fact, go to college. We all "made it".

We may have been the last blue collar generation to have that experience.


If you were born in the 80's to a blue collar dad........you can bet your ass that your mom worked too. In order to have those two cars and those modern appliances and even think about college....two incomes were a given.....that.....and a credit card. You got home to an empty house......nobody to make sure the homework was done. Hell.....that's the school's job!

The experience was just not the same. And.....those people still followed the human urge to procreate. So.....we are now entering our second generation of blue collar kids who don't have "the good ol' days".

Anyone besides me think this is fucked up and needs to be fixed?

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

Sure, but it's highly unlikely we'll agree on the reasons why it happened and how to fix it.

 

[LoneLaugher]

Sure, but it's highly unlikely we'll agree on the reasons why it happened and how to fix it.

Hmmmmm. It doesn't require agreement to pin down the reasons.....other than to agree to objectively review the facts. Once that is done.....the reasons are very clear.

Solutions......that's more difficult as we must deal with reality. Political reality, that is.

But.....if we "both" sincerely want to fix it....we'll work something out. We're Americans.

 

[guno]

There is a lot of discussion on these boards about income inequality and supply side economics and the safety net, etc. It's all good.

I'm interested.....genuinely so....in how others perceive reality so far as the typical middle class family experiences life in America.

As a boy, living in a very typical Upstate New York small town......I think my experience was in many ways typical of middle class life in the 1970s. Here is how I would describe it.

My father.....a WWII veteran landed a civil service job fixing office machines when I was 3. Mom never worked outside the home until I was sophomore in HS. So....on one very blue collar income....we muddled through my childhood years.

My father was able to purchase a 4 bedroom home, two vehicles, every modern appliance, food and clothing and toys and sporting goods and other "necessities" for 4 children. We had access to a military base with a hospital and other services. Going to a doctor or a dentist was never a decision made by looking at a checkbook.

We went on a vacation every summer. We visited family over Christmas break. We ate out occasionaly. We went to a movie whenever we wanted to. We helped support the ice cream man and the local bowling alley.

There was an expectation that we'd go to college and it wouldn't require loans. The old man even went to night school to get his GED because he never finished HS as a kid. Mom was there when we left for school and she was there when we got home. Our real teacher was waiting for us and stood between us and fun.

Awesome, right? All of us did, in fact, go to college. We all "made it".

We may have been the last blue collar generation to have that experience.


If you were born in the 80's to a blue collar dad........you can bet your ass that your mom worked too. In order to have those two cars and those modern appliances and even think about college....two incomes were a given.....that.....and a credit card. You got home to an empty house......nobody to make sure the homework was done. Hell.....that's the school's job!

The experience was just not the same. And.....those people still followed the human urge to procreate. So.....we are now entering our second generation of blue collar kids who don't have "the good ol' days".

Anyone besides me think this is fucked up and needs to be fixed?

The 80's, the start of trickle down "economics" and when the rape of the working class started

 

[Harry Dresden]

There is a lot of discussion on these boards about income inequality and supply side economics and the safety net, etc. It's all good.

I'm interested.....genuinely so....in how others perceive reality so far as the typical middle class family experiences life in America.

As a boy, living in a very typical Upstate New York small town......I think my experience was in many ways typical of middle class life in the 1970s. Here is how I would describe it.

My father.....a WWII veteran landed a civil service job fixing office machines when I was 3. Mom never worked outside the home until I was sophomore in HS. So....on one very blue collar income....we muddled through my childhood years.

My father was able to purchase a 4 bedroom home, two vehicles, every modern appliance, food and clothing and toys and sporting goods and other "necessities" for 4 children. We had access to a military base with a hospital and other services. Going to a doctor or a dentist was never a decision made by looking at a checkbook.

We went on a vacation every summer. We visited family over Christmas break. We ate out occasionaly. We went to a movie whenever we wanted to. We helped support the ice cream man and the local bowling alley.

There was an expectation that we'd go to college and it wouldn't require loans. The old man even went to night school to get his GED because he never finished HS as a kid. Mom was there when we left for school and she was there when we got home. Our real teacher was waiting for us and stood between us and fun.

Awesome, right? All of us did, in fact, go to college. We all "made it".

We may have been the last blue collar generation to have that experience.


If you were born in the 80's to a blue collar dad........you can bet your ass that your mom worked too. In order to have those two cars and those modern appliances and even think about college....two incomes were a given.....that.....and a credit card. You got home to an empty house......nobody to make sure the homework was done. Hell.....that's the school's job!

The experience was just not the same. And.....those people still followed the human urge to procreate. So.....we are now entering our second generation of blue collar kids who don't have "the good ol' days".

Anyone besides me think this is fucked up and needs to be fixed?

same here LL....my dad worked in a chemical factory and was a HS dropout but still we did the same you did.....a house,car,vacations....and he supported a wife and 3 kids...how much could he have possibly been making?...and yea all the moms in the neighborhood were there when we got home from school.....we were able to ride our bikes miles away from home when we were like 10 to play ball against a bunch of other kids and never had to worry.....we would be gone all day and got back by dark.....great time to grow up.....i feel for the kids who came after.....

 

[Harry Dresden]

There is a lot of discussion on these boards about income inequality and supply side economics and the safety net, etc. It's all good.

I'm interested.....genuinely so....in how others perceive reality so far as the typical middle class family experiences life in America.

As a boy, living in a very typical Upstate New York small town......I think my experience was in many ways typical of middle class life in the 1970s. Here is how I would describe it.

My father.....a WWII veteran landed a civil service job fixing office machines when I was 3. Mom never worked outside the home until I was sophomore in HS. So....on one very blue collar income....we muddled through my childhood years.

My father was able to purchase a 4 bedroom home, two vehicles, every modern appliance, food and clothing and toys and sporting goods and other "necessities" for 4 children. We had access to a military base with a hospital and other services. Going to a doctor or a dentist was never a decision made by looking at a checkbook.

We went on a vacation every summer. We visited family over Christmas break. We ate out occasionaly. We went to a movie whenever we wanted to. We helped support the ice cream man and the local bowling alley.

There was an expectation that we'd go to college and it wouldn't require loans. The old man even went to night school to get his GED because he never finished HS as a kid. Mom was there when we left for school and she was there when we got home. Our real teacher was waiting for us and stood between us and fun.

Awesome, right? All of us did, in fact, go to college. We all "made it".

We may have been the last blue collar generation to have that experience.


If you were born in the 80's to a blue collar dad........you can bet your ass that your mom worked too. In order to have those two cars and those modern appliances and even think about college....two incomes were a given.....that.....and a credit card. You got home to an empty house......nobody to make sure the homework was done. Hell.....that's the school's job!

The experience was just not the same. And.....those people still followed the human urge to procreate. So.....we are now entering our second generation of blue collar kids who don't have "the good ol' days".

Anyone besides me think this is fucked up and needs to be fixed?

were about in upstate NY LL?.....i was raised in Niagara Falls.....Parents moved out here in 67 when i was 16....

 

[Ravi]

There is a lot of discussion on these boards about income inequality and supply side economics and the safety net, etc. It's all good.

I'm interested.....genuinely so....in how others perceive reality so far as the typical middle class family experiences life in America.

As a boy, living in a very typical Upstate New York small town......I think my experience was in many ways typical of middle class life in the 1970s. Here is how I would describe it.

My father.....a WWII veteran landed a civil service job fixing office machines when I was 3. Mom never worked outside the home until I was sophomore in HS. So....on one very blue collar income....we muddled through my childhood years.

My father was able to purchase a 4 bedroom home, two vehicles, every modern appliance, food and clothing and toys and sporting goods and other "necessities" for 4 children. We had access to a military base with a hospital and other services. Going to a doctor or a dentist was never a decision made by looking at a checkbook.

We went on a vacation every summer. We visited family over Christmas break. We ate out occasionaly. We went to a movie whenever we wanted to. We helped support the ice cream man and the local bowling alley.

There was an expectation that we'd go to college and it wouldn't require loans. The old man even went to night school to get his GED because he never finished HS as a kid. Mom was there when we left for school and she was there when we got home. Our real teacher was waiting for us and stood between us and fun.

Awesome, right? All of us did, in fact, go to college. We all "made it".

We may have been the last blue collar generation to have that experience.


If you were born in the 80's to a blue collar dad........you can bet your ass that your mom worked too. In order to have those two cars and those modern appliances and even think about college....two incomes were a given.....that.....and a credit card. You got home to an empty house......nobody to make sure the homework was done. Hell.....that's the school's job!

The experience was just not the same. And.....those people still followed the human urge to procreate. So.....we are now entering our second generation of blue collar kids who don't have "the good ol' days".

Anyone besides me think this is fucked up and needs to be fixed?

same here LL....my dad worked in a chemical factory and was a HS dropout but still we did the same you did.....a house,car,vacations....and he supported a wife and 3 kids...how much could he have possibly been making?...and yea all the moms in the neighborhood were there when we got home from school.....we were able to ride our bikes miles away from home when we were like 10 to play ball against a bunch of other kids and never had to worry.....we would be gone all day and got back by dark.....great time to grow up.....i feel for the kids who came after.....

A lot of it is just paranoia on the parents part, IMO. We could do whatever we wanted as kids as long as we were home for dinner and did our homework. I tried to give my kids the same freedom.

 

[LoneLaugher]

There is a lot of discussion on these boards about income inequality and supply side economics and the safety net, etc. It's all good.

I'm interested.....genuinely so....in how others perceive reality so far as the typical middle class family experiences life in America.

As a boy, living in a very typical Upstate New York small town......I think my experience was in many ways typical of middle class life in the 1970s. Here is how I would describe it.

My father.....a WWII veteran landed a civil service job fixing office machines when I was 3. Mom never worked outside the home until I was sophomore in HS. So....on one very blue collar income....we muddled through my childhood years.

My father was able to purchase a 4 bedroom home, two vehicles, every modern appliance, food and clothing and toys and sporting goods and other "necessities" for 4 children. We had access to a military base with a hospital and other services. Going to a doctor or a dentist was never a decision made by looking at a checkbook.

We went on a vacation every summer. We visited family over Christmas break. We ate out occasionaly. We went to a movie whenever we wanted to. We helped support the ice cream man and the local bowling alley.

There was an expectation that we'd go to college and it wouldn't require loans. The old man even went to night school to get his GED because he never finished HS as a kid. Mom was there when we left for school and she was there when we got home. Our real teacher was waiting for us and stood between us and fun.

Awesome, right? All of us did, in fact, go to college. We all "made it".

We may have been the last blue collar generation to have that experience.


If you were born in the 80's to a blue collar dad........you can bet your ass that your mom worked too. In order to have those two cars and those modern appliances and even think about college....two incomes were a given.....that.....and a credit card. You got home to an empty house......nobody to make sure the homework was done. Hell.....that's the school's job!

The experience was just not the same. And.....those people still followed the human urge to procreate. So.....we are now entering our second generation of blue collar kids who don't have "the good ol' days".

Anyone besides me think this is fucked up and needs to be fixed?

were about in upstate NY LL?.....i was raised in Niagara Falls.....Parents moved out here in 67 when i was 16....

Hudson Valley.

But...I was conceived at Niagara Falls.

 

[EdwardBaiamonte]

My father was able to purchase a 4 bedroom home,
.

despite new inventions life has gotten harder because liberalism is wasting all the money! As liberalism has grown the country declines.

 

[Harry Dresden]

There is a lot of discussion on these boards about income inequality and supply side economics and the safety net, etc. It's all good.

I'm interested.....genuinely so....in how others perceive reality so far as the typical middle class family experiences life in America.

As a boy, living in a very typical Upstate New York small town......I think my experience was in many ways typical of middle class life in the 1970s. Here is how I would describe it.

My father.....a WWII veteran landed a civil service job fixing office machines when I was 3. Mom never worked outside the home until I was sophomore in HS. So....on one very blue collar income....we muddled through my childhood years.

My father was able to purchase a 4 bedroom home, two vehicles, every modern appliance, food and clothing and toys and sporting goods and other "necessities" for 4 children. We had access to a military base with a hospital and other services. Going to a doctor or a dentist was never a decision made by looking at a checkbook.

We went on a vacation every summer. We visited family over Christmas break. We ate out occasionaly. We went to a movie whenever we wanted to. We helped support the ice cream man and the local bowling alley.

There was an expectation that we'd go to college and it wouldn't require loans. The old man even went to night school to get his GED because he never finished HS as a kid. Mom was there when we left for school and she was there when we got home. Our real teacher was waiting for us and stood between us and fun.

Awesome, right? All of us did, in fact, go to college. We all "made it".

We may have been the last blue collar generation to have that experience.


If you were born in the 80's to a blue collar dad........you can bet your ass that your mom worked too. In order to have those two cars and those modern appliances and even think about college....two incomes were a given.....that.....and a credit card. You got home to an empty house......nobody to make sure the homework was done. Hell.....that's the school's job!

The experience was just not the same. And.....those people still followed the human urge to procreate. So.....we are now entering our second generation of blue collar kids who don't have "the good ol' days".

Anyone besides me think this is fucked up and needs to be fixed?

were about in upstate NY LL?.....i was raised in Niagara Falls.....Parents moved out here in 67 when i was 16....

Hudson Valley.

But...I was conceived at Niagara Falls.

i think many people were......lol.....hey so was i.....lol

 

[HenryBHough]

Where would we get a new generation of:

Icemen?

Knife grinders?

Milkmen?

I-Cash-Clothes men?

Oh wait, how about employing Democrat liberal-educated women who might manage to qualify!

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

But.....if we "both" sincerely want to fix it....we'll work something out. We're Americans.

Really? Because all I've seen is a country that has been bitterly divided most of my life.

 

[Freemason9]

Where would we get a new generation of:

Icemen?

Knife grinders?

Milkmen?

I-Cash-Clothes men?

Oh wait, how about employing Democrat liberal-educated women who might manage to qualify!

You can always count on a Republican to downgrade any discussion.

 

[jwoodie]

There is a lot of discussion on these boards about income inequality and supply side economics and the safety net, etc. It's all good.

I'm interested.....genuinely so....in how others perceive reality so far as the typical middle class family experiences life in America.

As a boy, living in a very typical Upstate New York small town......I think my experience was in many ways typical of middle class life in the 1970s. Here is how I would describe it.

My father.....a WWII veteran landed a civil service job fixing office machines when I was 3. Mom never worked outside the home until I was sophomore in HS. So....on one very blue collar income....we muddled through my childhood years.

My father was able to purchase a 4 bedroom home, two vehicles, every modern appliance, food and clothing and toys and sporting goods and other "necessities" for 4 children. We had access to a military base with a hospital and other services. Going to a doctor or a dentist was never a decision made by looking at a checkbook.

We went on a vacation every summer. We visited family over Christmas break. We ate out occasionaly. We went to a movie whenever we wanted to. We helped support the ice cream man and the local bowling alley.

There was an expectation that we'd go to college and it wouldn't require loans. The old man even went to night school to get his GED because he never finished HS as a kid. Mom was there when we left for school and she was there when we got home. Our real teacher was waiting for us and stood between us and fun.

Awesome, right? All of us did, in fact, go to college. We all "made it".

We may have been the last blue collar generation to have that experience.


If you were born in the 80's to a blue collar dad........you can bet your ass that your mom worked too. In order to have those two cars and those modern appliances and even think about college....two incomes were a given.....that.....and a credit card. You got home to an empty house......nobody to make sure the homework was done. Hell.....that's the school's job!

The experience was just not the same. And.....those people still followed the human urge to procreate. So.....we are now entering our second generation of blue collar kids who don't have "the good ol' days".

Anyone besides me think this is fucked up and needs to be fixed?

Well, just how would you "fix" it? The 1950's were a unique period where, after WW2, The U.S. possessed 1/2 of the manufacturing capacity of the entire world. As a result, many low- and semi-skilled workers could be paid high-skilled wages. Then the rest of the world started catching up and we found that we could no longer afford that luxury. Another factor was women's entry into the professional work force. This effectively doubled the disposable income of two parent families, who could then afford much larger and expensive homes. It also made one-earner families relatively worse off financially.

I grew up in a middle class family during that period, and we lived very simply in comparison to what has become the norm today.

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

There is a lot of discussion on these boards about income inequality and supply side economics and the safety net, etc. It's all good.

I'm interested.....genuinely so....in how others perceive reality so far as the typical middle class family experiences life in America.

As a boy, living in a very typical Upstate New York small town......I think my experience was in many ways typical of middle class life in the 1970s. Here is how I would describe it.

My father.....a WWII veteran landed a civil service job fixing office machines when I was 3. Mom never worked outside the home until I was sophomore in HS. So....on one very blue collar income....we muddled through my childhood years.

My father was able to purchase a 4 bedroom home, two vehicles, every modern appliance, food and clothing and toys and sporting goods and other "necessities" for 4 children. We had access to a military base with a hospital and other services. Going to a doctor or a dentist was never a decision made by looking at a checkbook.

We went on a vacation every summer. We visited family over Christmas break. We ate out occasionaly. We went to a movie whenever we wanted to. We helped support the ice cream man and the local bowling alley.

There was an expectation that we'd go to college and it wouldn't require loans. The old man even went to night school to get his GED because he never finished HS as a kid. Mom was there when we left for school and she was there when we got home. Our real teacher was waiting for us and stood between us and fun.

Awesome, right? All of us did, in fact, go to college. We all "made it".

We may have been the last blue collar generation to have that experience.


If you were born in the 80's to a blue collar dad........you can bet your ass that your mom worked too. In order to have those two cars and those modern appliances and even think about college....two incomes were a given.....that.....and a credit card. You got home to an empty house......nobody to make sure the homework was done. Hell.....that's the school's job!

The experience was just not the same. And.....those people still followed the human urge to procreate. So.....we are now entering our second generation of blue collar kids who don't have "the good ol' days".

Anyone besides me think this is fucked up and needs to be fixed?

We were the only major economy not bombed into rubble.
Low skilled guys with a high school diploma, or without, could get a decent job.

Now we've imported 20 million low skilled illegals and Chinese, who 20 years ago were
fertilizing their fields by hand with their own shit, are now working in a state of the art factory,
making the cheap stuff we used to make here.

Low skilled Americans can't buy a house and a new car every few years, like their parents or grandparents did.

 

[EdwardBaiamonte]

Well, just how would you "fix" it? The 1950's were a unique period where, after WW2, The U.S. possessed 1/2 of the manufacturing capacity of the entire world. .

there are super obvious ways to instantly create 40 million new jobs and huge upward pressure on wages:

1) make liberal unions illegal. 20 millon jobs
2) eliminate liberal corporate taxes. 10 million jobs
3) make liberal budget deficits illegal so Japan and China had to buy our products not our debt. 10 million jobs
4) ship 20 millionn liberal illegals home.
5) make inflation illegal. 5 million jobs

shall I go on?

 

[LoneLaugher]

Well, just how would you "fix" it? The 1950's were a unique period where, after WW2, The U.S. possessed 1/2 of the manufacturing capacity of the entire world. .

there are super obvious ways to instantly create 40 million new jobs and huge upward pressure on wages:

1) make liberal unions illegal. 20 millon jobs
2) eliminate liberal corporate taxes. 10 million jobs
3) make liberal budget deficits illegal so Japan and China had to buy our products not our debt. 10 million jobs
4) ship 20 millionn liberal illegals home.
5) make inflation illegal. 5 million jobs

shall I go on?

Yeah..go on. Best not to pinch a loaf.

 

[EdwardBaiamonte]

Well, just how would you "fix" it? The 1950's were a unique period where, after WW2, The U.S. possessed 1/2 of the manufacturing capacity of the entire world. .

there are super obvious ways to instantly create 40 million new jobs and huge upward pressure on wages:

1) make liberal unions illegal. 20 millon jobs
2) eliminate liberal corporate taxes. 10 million jobs
3) make liberal budget deficits illegal so Japan and China had to buy our products not our debt. 10 million jobs
4) ship 20 millionn liberal illegals home.
5) make inflation illegal. 5 million jobs

shall I go on?

Yeah..go on. Best not to pinch a loaf.

typical liberal without IQ for substantive response!

 

[LoneLaugher]

Well, just how would you "fix" it? The 1950's were a unique period where, after WW2, The U.S. possessed 1/2 of the manufacturing capacity of the entire world. .

there are super obvious ways to instantly create 40 million new jobs and huge upward pressure on wages:

1) make liberal unions illegal. 20 millon jobs
2) eliminate liberal corporate taxes. 10 million jobs
3) make liberal budget deficits illegal so Japan and China had to buy our products not our debt. 10 million jobs
4) ship 20 millionn liberal illegals home.
5) make inflation illegal. 5 million jobs

shall I go on?

Yeah..go on. Best not to pinch a loaf.

typical liberal without IQ for substantive response!

Oh....was your teatarded list substance? I missed it.

Great math, by the way. I love well thought out plans.

 

[EdwardBaiamonte]

Well, just how would you "fix" it? The 1950's were a unique period where, after WW2, The U.S. possessed 1/2 of the manufacturing capacity of the entire world. .

there are super obvious ways to instantly create 40 million new jobs and huge upward pressure on wages:

1) make liberal unions illegal. 20 millon jobs
2) eliminate liberal corporate taxes. 10 million jobs
3) make liberal budget deficits illegal so Japan and China had to buy our products not our debt. 10 million jobs
4) ship 20 millionn liberal illegals home.
5) make inflation illegal. 5 million jobs

shall I go on?

Yeah..go on. Best not to pinch a loaf.

typical liberal without IQ for substantive response!

Oh....was your teatarded list substance? I missed it.

Great math, by the way. I love well thought out plans.

dear if you disagree with anything on list please say why or admit by trying to change the subject again that you lack the IQ for it like any typical liberal would.