Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
On one hand, yes. I suppose it was better to find a house (not an apartment but a house) in the 1950s as well as a job. I know that you didn't have to be a rocket scientist to earn enough to buy a little sweet place for you, Martha and the 2.5 kids. However, that came at a price. Women didn't work, really once they got married. People of color didn't get the breaks White men did. There was a lot more racism and people worried about the bomb and Reds and there were always poor people who couldn't achieve Hicksville houses. Many people lost relatives in WWII. I can't imagine post WWII in Europe. It took them years to rebuild.
Now it's hard to have that normal life. One person's job hardly pays the bills. Families are fractured. A bit sad.
I'm in Gen X. Life has never been easy financially.
As I age, the jobs just kind of turn me away when they see my age. I'm not a thirty something. I still have a lot of good years left but I know it's going to be a struggle.
Those "unsexy" heartland metros are where the opportunity is these days. For most people, the big coastal metros are just too expensive. You really need to have sophisticated skills to be able to live well in Seattle, Boston, SF, NYC, etc. Small towns and rural areas generally don't have enough of an employment base to make much money/
Why do people insist on herding to large cities, when there are tons of smaller cities offering employment and more affordable cost of living. Is it just name recognition or something that people feel limited to five cities or think they will have to live in a mountain cave? Can one even imagine to drive to work in a car? One can live in a town and work in a city, just drive.
Do you think we were born too late, and that the economy will never be "great again"? I was born in 1991, I'm just sad for all the other adults my age and their children. The worse part is that there is nothing we can do to go back.
I am really sad to see all jobs being replaced by the robots and the AI.
I wish we can see another good age like America did at some point in the 20th century. Not going to happen as long as constant exponential improvement in robots and AI keep up. We can't physically stop it from happening (?)
You have NO idea what you are talking about. The whole MAGA thing is a joke and just another Trump lie. It was worse, not better. WAY worse.
My mother's parents were born around 1915 and lived through the Great Depression. My grandmother dropped out of high school to get a job and earn money to help put food on the table for her family. They were dirt poor and living in an ethnic ghetto in horrendous poverty until after their children were grown.
My parents grew up poor, my father the child of a widow who worked in a large corporation as a low-ranking clerk for nearly 50 years, training men who would be promoted over her in a company that openly refused to promote women. My father joined the army during the Vietnam war, so he could get money for college. My mother supported them both after I was born, but we lived in a series of trailer parks and low-rent apartments.
They managed to finish college after I was born, but even with two college grads working two jobs each, full time, throughout the 70's and 80's they couldn't afford a new car (or a second car), and still worried about the electricity being paid off. We never ate in restaurants, bought new clothes (or anything new), or took vacations, except for camping. The tent kind.
Things didn't improve for them until the early 90's, after 30 years in their respective professions. But just about then I was graduating from college into a recession, and my own struggles began. I could barely buy groceries on the salary I made, and definitely couldn't pay my student loans. I scrimped and struggled right up until about 10 years ago, when I married someone smarter than me, from a richer family than mine.
Things were NEVER easy. The economy was never good for anyone except the rich. In fact, the overall standard of living for everyone was considerably lower, and without the internet we were all un-empowered by a general lack of information and the inability to get information. You couldn't google your rights.
You live in the BEST time, not the worst. Stop wasting your time feeling sorry for yourself and enjoy the enormous possibilities that have never existed before.
They managed to finish college after I was born, but even with two college grads working two jobs each, full time, throughout the 70's and 80's they couldn't afford a new car (or a second car), and still worried about the electricity being paid off. We never ate in restaurants, bought new clothes (or anything new), or took vacations, except for camping. The tent kind.
That doesn't really makes sense. Sorry, it just doesn't, there must be more to the story. The average middle class family in the 70s could live fine off of one income and have no worries about basics. And have some extras. You are saying two parents with college degrees and four jobs worried about paying utilities?
Why do people insist on herding to large cities, when there are tons of smaller cities offering employment and more affordable cost of living. Is it just name recognition or something that people feel limited to five cities or think they will have to live in a mountain cave? Can one even imagine to drive to work in a car? One can live in a town and work in a city, just drive.
That is where the opportunity is. If you aren't trying to succeed in a competitive field like medicine, technology, or finance, and just have a "job job," you should probably consider living in a small city or town.
Of course, if you lose your job, your chances of having to move are much greater in a small city than in a large one.
That doesn't really makes sense. Sorry, it just doesn't, there must be more to the story. The average middle class family in the 70s could live fine off of one income and have no worries about basics. And have some extras. You are saying two parents with college degrees and four jobs worried about paying utilities?
You don't start at the top, you start at the bottom and work your way up. My first professional job paid $13,200 in 1977. It was not a poverty level wage but it wasn't really enough to support a family either "and have some extras." And I had an MBA from a top-5 program.
That is where the opportunity is. If you aren't trying to succeed in a competitive field like medicine, technology, or finance, and just have a "job job," you should probably consider living in a small city or town.
Of course, if you lose your job, your chances of having to move are much greater in a small city than in a large one.
You can have a "career career" in a smaller city and afford to live there too.
I was born in 1983. I'm happy right where I was born. Get to take advantage of awesome amounts of technology and I can learn more stuff for free today than my parents could learn had they gone to Harvard in the 70s.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tamajane
You can have a "career career" in a smaller city and afford to live there too.
Yup, I'm in tech and I live in a smaller college town area. Sure I don't make as much as I could make in San Fran, but I also have half the COL. According to most COL calculators I'd need to make between $225-$250k to maintain the same standard of living as where I am now. Do they pay data scientists that much in San Fran? I'm sure they do, but not many.
You can have a "career career" in a smaller city and afford to live there too.
There is one large financial institution in Cleveland. If you get fired from it, or don't like your job, goodbye Cleveland.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
