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Depends on the times. I'm sure it helps. But it doesn't change the basic elements.
Sammy Davis Jr., even though rich & famous, wasn't allowed to stay in hotels in the south, even when traveling with the rat pack. Sinatra had to intervene and force them to let him stay.
Billie Holiday, though famous on her tour, wasn't allowed to use white restrooms or stay in hotels in certain areas.
Many other instances. It's sort of like getting old. There comes a point where being wealthy, fit, with a good body don't make up for being old. To people who like only certain kinds of people, black is still black, old is still old, etc.
Oh boo boo I couldn't use the same restrooms. That sounds a lot better than being forced to lived at home forever.
If I was born back when we had drive in theaters and malt shops with my 165k adjusted for inflation. I'd have 20,000 approximately. This would be enough to buy a brand new eichler, a new cadillac el dorado, and still have a few thousand left to invest. Anyone who tells me it was "harder back then" is full of it.
Nowadays I'm basically in poverty despite the fact I save all I can.
Oh, no doubt. Even having grown up in the '80s I see it as easier then to have more than we do today. Some of that is just by nature of the things we have today that we didn't back then too. Some of it balances out (free long distance on your smart phone) and some of it does not (the $500 phone to begin with and your $100/mo plan).
I think people's standards have also risen quite a bit for themselves too with no real justification behind it. We had some luxuries growing up, but nothing like what most people have today. $5/cup coffee wasn't even remotely a thing and now that's the standard. So there is an argument to be made that your quality of life is much better now, or perhaps it's just different, than it was decades ago and that carries a cost.
Personally, even when I've been in the top 15-20% of earners I never really felt like I had "a lot". I've never been comfortable enough to go buy a new car or take a big expensive vacation and that stuff seems to be the new demanded standard of a lot of people these days. My parents could do that stuff whenever they wanted IF they wanted and we were very much middle class growing up, if not lower middle class for awhile. If you're right in the middle of earners and even can afford a car you're doing well.
BUT... I still see America as a place where if you work hard and make good decisions you can still be successful. There will always be hard luck stories out there (and I have my share of them) of big winners who don't deserve and big losers who don't either, but that won't be most people.
Boy this thread got pretty much scattered and now discrimination.
Well, last evening I went out to dinner with a gf and she came (drove) to SM from FL over 25 yrs ago...she is 72, and owned several houses in FL but NEVER attempted to buy here in SM...we LOVE the weather and location where we live so very very willing to "feed the landlord's pockets"....that does not bother me at all. It did back in the 80's when I bought but I learned from that one. I actually got her apt which is down the street from me after the '94 EQ, about 6 tenants moved out and the next day a long line of people to apply for an apt -- they were being fixed up after EQ.
She got one of the apts, 2bdroom, 2bath, patio and large rooms and sq ft I'd say 1200 or so. Back in '94 when she got the apt, I think her rent was $1100 and will all the years of increases she's probably at close to $1500 give or take. Over the years, she's taken in roommates as she has the extra bedroom/bath and liked the company and the extra money came in handy to her.
She was telling me about a friend of her's who never owned a house and was willed a house in Kansas from a family member and she moved to KS and lives in the house. Her friend was telling my friend, that all extra money goes into this house and now something about the foundation is slipping...so more headaches and money.
My friend and I both agreed, we LOVE our apt living.
If I was born back when we had drive in theaters and malt shops with my 165k adjusted for inflation. I'd have 20,000 approximately. This would be enough to buy a brand new eichler, a new cadillac el dorado, and still have a few thousand left to invest. Anyone who tells me it was "harder back then" is full of it.
Nowadays I'm basically in poverty despite the fact I save all I can.
You play the hand you're dealt... always been this way.
Just remember the next generations will say the same looking back... like remember when the median US single family home was 250k back in 2017...
Any discussion of the good old days would be remiss not mentioning January 1950 the minimum wage was 75 cents and as I write it is $12.86 plus sick leave in my city.
You play the hand you're dealt... always been this way.
Just remember the next generations will say the same looking back... like remember when the median US single family home was 250k back in 2017...
Any discussion of the good old days would be remiss not mentioning January 1950 the minimum wage was 75 cents and as I write it is $12.86 plus sick leave in my city.
Never thought I'd see housing being the investment of the rich while stocks are the investment of the poor.
Twelve years ago I rented to an 18 year old single African American woman in Oakland California... an only child and lost her mother to cancer when she was 12 and her father had lots of medical problems and just making ends meet on his disability.
This young lady had a dream to be a Doctor... she worked as many as three jobs and attended Oakland's Merit Junior College and it was all work and school... no time for nonsense and she paid her own rent on time for the small one bedroom unit.
She applied all over to many medical schools and nothing... and she had worked so hard.
One night she calls and says she has good news and bad news... a slot opened up in University of Chicago and she had 7 days to physically move herself and her worldly procession halfway across the country in her $800 car... the bad news is she has a signed a lease...
Told her to get packing and because she needed to be on the road like tomorrow... I met her at the apartment and gave her her full security deposit refund in cash and she was on her way...
Each year I get a nice Christmas Card from her and she has accomplished a lot and all through hard work and determination....
I can tell you some stories about the Good Old Days. When I was a child my brother was in the hospital for a week. My parents agonized over the bill,$300. The moral equivalent of $3000 today. The year I graduated college tuition was $2700 a yr, private school, $10,800 in today's money. Plenty of homes for sale under $50,000. Not in slums, either. Sure, technology was primitive. The Videocassette recorder was the height of technology and cost $1000. No cell phones. As measured by the unemployment rate, it was worse. But the jobs offered more benefits.
Never thought I'd see housing being the investment of the rich while stocks are the investment of the poor.
More hyperbole from PermaBear. Poor people don't generally save and invest in anything. Only about 50% of Americans own stock or mutual funds / etfs that own stock. Most of those people are in the top half of the income range.
More hyperbole from PermaBear. Poor people don't generally save and invest in anything. Only about 50% of Americans own stock or mutual funds / etfs that own stock. Most of those people are in the top half of the income range.
Only 50% of Americans even financially invest in the operation of the country, never mind stocks and home ownership. Talk about cart WAY out in front of the horse...
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