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You're ignoring quantities though. In past times, a TV might be relatively more expensive, but there was one in the house. We (family of five) have 5 flat screen TVs, each with it's own cable box, plus a Playstation, an X-Box, two Nintendos and three FireTV boxes scattered among them. We've also probably got north of $3k in cell phones, three laptops, three iPads, three Amazon tablets and several Kindles.
These things have no basis in reality. They don't replace health care. They don't replace food. They don't replace (much) transportation.
Binging on TV is not exactly the pinnacle of the human experience. In fact, I'd say quite the opposite - the masses now know, more than ever, what they are missing because they see if on their $89 fire tablet.
You're ignoring quantities though. In past times, a TV might be relatively more expensive, but there was one in the house. We (family of five) have 5 flat screen TVs, each with it's own cable box, plus a Playstation, an X-Box, two Nintendos and three FireTV boxes scattered among them. We've also probably got north of $3k in cell phones, three laptops, three iPads, three Amazon tablets and several Kindles.
How much do you spend on records/CD's?
Net net, you do a thorough examination of cost vs income, I'm pretty sure the average household is paying equivalent or less than they were 35 years ago for electronics and entertainment regardless of how much they have.
I have 3 flat screen TV's that are 8 5 and 2 years old. Net they cost under $2,500.
My family made 1/5th of what I do now. We had one big color TV, one small one, and one portable black and white in 1984 lets say. Net cost probably around $500. A wash. Plus we bought records that cost $10 a pop to the tune of probably 40+ a year in that house between all of us. So that covers the cell phones, internet service, tablets, etc for the whole year in terms of relative cost. Making sense yet?
My first year of college cost $500. My sons first year at the same school would be $20K. Making sense yet?
My house growing up costs 12X as much as it did when my dad bought it. Making sense yet?
If you go into the entire subject with the mentality "I'm better than those people, they are lazy and stupid", I guess it will never make sense.
What is your point? Bc you're not coming anywhere close to explaining how companies in same sector targeting the same demographic of shoppers pays widely different wages.
Will you pay me if your guarantee fails? I live in a small coastal town. I don't drive far enough on an annual basis to recoup the membership fee in savings on gas.
You're ignoring quantities though. In past times, a TV might be relatively more expensive, but there was one in the house. We (family of five) have 5 flat screen TVs, each with it's own cable box, plus a Playstation, an X-Box, two Nintendos and three FireTV boxes scattered among them. We've also probably got north of $3k in cell phones, three laptops, three iPads, three Amazon tablets and several Kindles.
OK so you choose to have excessive gadgets and expenses related to them. Those are not necessary.
I was looking at a triple decker on Columbia Rd in Southie roughly across from the L street Bathhouse. The whole building sold in 1989 for $38,000 (according to Zillow). Wanna take a guess what it sold for last summer?
(hint: it was north of 1.5 million)
It's shocking.
I have friends who are older Millennials who were rare in that they got married right out of college. Their families helped them with a down payment on a condo in Waltham right after the bubble burst in 2009 while he worked and she finished grad school. They bought a 2 bed, 1 bath condo for $150,000 and sold it about 6 years later with only cosmetic updates for more than double that. It recently sold again for $600,000.
Boston was a great place to get in at the right time. Lots of millionaires in this town off of getting into the market at the right time in real estate alone. For younger Millennials like me, it's great for my 401K and career, but not so great for getting into the market. While I try to get out of the city, I find myself rooting for another market collapse so *maybe* I can get into a condo that's not in a building that's a total dump in Framingham.
The same can be said for most major cities where jobs are - especially cities like Boston, NYC, Seattle, San Francisco, etc that were either already pretty built up out into the suburbs or hampered by geography from growth. My Boomer parents moved way out into the suburbs in Atlanta and have seen only modest increases in 20 years on their McMansion, and can't understand why I haven't bought yet when I make more as a single earner than they did combined with two little kids living a much higher standard of living.
Electronics are much cheaper now relative to incomes. Period. Thanks cheap Chinese labor. When somebody says "that millenial is struggling because they have a cell phone"...that person is myopic and/or stupid.
Definitely ridiculous. 46% of the entire population of Florida - many in multiple income households - are either not making it or week-to-week. It wouldn't change a bit whether they had a $100 cell phone or a $400 one. When health care is 10K per person per year (in one way or another) and education is 12K per child in school and even a traffic ticket is $170, it doesn't help much to get a Flat Screen for $150.
A minor point - but it's not Chinese labor that makes these things so cheap. It's the advances in Silicon technology and other such things. Software. And a scale that was unheard of in the old daze. If that Flat Screen was made in the USA it might be $170 instead of $150...not earth shattering for something that can last a decade.
My wife has never worked, all by design (raise our son was/is her job). I make less than $125k, have a very nice 4 bedroom house (2400sqft/on about an acre, all brick built in 2004), 2 cars, and the list goes on.
I put money away every month....live with our means and we still get just about everything we need (notice I said need, not want, with some wants in there)....
This question is not specific to the US, but if capitalism brings so much wealth (and it does) why can´t families survive on a single income anymore like in the past when usually only men worked and women were not in the workforce?
A broken system will eventually collapse and have a reset. Higher education costs, healthcare costs, debt levels, lack of personal responsibility/accountability, government waste (all sides), etc. The overall system has been trending down for some time now. Best you can do is prepare by avoiding debt, having a relevant employable skill-set that is in demand, and try to live in a lower COL area. It surprises me how many working professionals I know that are obsessed with their high salary, but live in a very high COL area and are barely taking anything home at the end of the day.
Ah, the baby boomer myth that $500 flat screen TVs and cell phones are the real reasons. No matter how many statistics and numbers you put in front of these people, they'll still just come back with the same worthless anecdotal nonsense.
Look at a sears catalog from 1980 and see how expensive electronics were relative to incomes. They were MUCH more expensive relative to incomes.
Does this in any way change my point?
Electronics are much cheaper now relative to incomes. Period. Thanks cheap Chinese labor. When somebody says "that millenial is struggling because they have a cell phone"...that person is myopic and/or stupid.
Yes, it does affect your point about the Sears catalog. You were trying to make the point that electronics were more expensive back in the day and took a larger share of the family income. Because today we can buy a cheap flat screen for $500.
However, the cheap flat screen is comparable to the cheap 19" TV, from back in the day. Whereas the expensive TVs you were referring to in the catalog, are equivalent to the $3,000+ 4K TVs, not the $500 entry level flat screen.
The question provides it's own answer. Unregulated Capitalism, which is what we pray to in the USA, creates something called the Lowest Common Denominator.
A test was done online about a decade ago where a system was set up so that good writers could bid on writing articles of X number of words. Think of it as an eBay for outsourcing articles on various topics. It was set up as a perfect experiment...for the very reason to find out where in the world people (of skill) would wok for the lowest price...and how much that is.
The USA won. Writers were willing to submit entries for as low as $0.25 an hour.
And this is the general story elsewhere in the economy.
Take a semi-skilled job...or low skilled hard work. My own initial experience.
I worked in the South as a house framer in 1973-74. I made $5 an hour and I was not the crew chief...had no idea how to read blueprints, but could carry lumber and follow instructions for hammering or lifting a wall.
$5 an hour then is $28 an hour today. That's WITHOUT actual wage growth. If the system was so grand, that job would pay $40 an hour today, even if wage growth outpaced inflation by a small amount.
But what does it pay?
"TN - Average Construction Worker salary: $13.51 per hour."
1/3rd of what it should.
There is nothing wrong with women working, of course...and many (most?) should, even if it's volunteer and other efforts that fit in with their lifestyle (a mother, etc.). BUT, the result should be a marked increase in the wealth of the household as compared to that $40 an hour "single laborer".
Unregulated Capitalism is perfect in one way....it can pay those at the top to insulate themselves from the the realities of their society so that they can smugly claim "anyone can do it" and pay themselves on the back.
Can't rep you anymore but great post.
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