My boomer parents didn't live like rockstars on a forklift salary. If you grew up working class in the 70's and 80's then you know the truth. My dad was an electrician (hint, the trades paid poorly back then), and with three kids plus my mom at home they struggled a bit. One car family until my mom lost her shit about being stuck at the house with us. She took a calculator grocery shopping and budgeted to the penny. Dad taped heavy plastic sheeting on our bedroom windows in the winter, since our 1918 house was not insulated and natural gas was more expensive than today. I could go on.
I had upper middle class and rich friends. They lived on the level the OP refers to (actually much better), and Gen Z thinks that's how it was for everyone. It wasn't. It's always been tough below the median in this country.
THIS. I think these sort of posts always are describing a certain mid 90s upper middle class life that was big on TV, etc. but its not like actual factory workers had it so great.
Having said that, yesterday I went to a restaurant with my wife (both millennials) for the first time since a year ago and we were blown away that the basic pub burger was the most expensive thing on the menu at over $20. Chicken, fish, pork, everything else was like $14. Crazy.
Union jobs and shared equity were the ticket in the 70s and 80s. I knew high schoolers making $11/hour in the early and mid 70s bagging groceries at union grocery stores, equivalent to something like 160k/year today. I also know people that worked in a gas station their whole career and retired in their 40s with two homes thanks to employee ownership/shared equity.
Of course not everyone could have those jobs, but those kinds of opportunities were MUCH more abundant back then than they are now. They don’t really exist now.
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u/openwheelr 17h ago
My boomer parents didn't live like rockstars on a forklift salary. If you grew up working class in the 70's and 80's then you know the truth. My dad was an electrician (hint, the trades paid poorly back then), and with three kids plus my mom at home they struggled a bit. One car family until my mom lost her shit about being stuck at the house with us. She took a calculator grocery shopping and budgeted to the penny. Dad taped heavy plastic sheeting on our bedroom windows in the winter, since our 1918 house was not insulated and natural gas was more expensive than today. I could go on.
I had upper middle class and rich friends. They lived on the level the OP refers to (actually much better), and Gen Z thinks that's how it was for everyone. It wasn't. It's always been tough below the median in this country.