Real wages have stagnated since the 70’s with the rise in lower paid labor (women). You think industry was really happy when the work force basically doubled as many women entered the work force, you betcha. Here was a wave of workers that could be paid less and thus hold down all wages. Women’s wages are coming closer to men’s not because women’s wages have risen dramatically, but because men’s have fallen. With the doubleing of work force, the entry of lower paid workers and finally the off shoreing of high paid jobs to low cost locations the American work has suffered a large loss. I can still remember when one person working could support a family of 4, buy a home and send the kids to college. Today two workers in a family working 80+ hours a week can barely support a family and never see the kids, ah yes, the American dream.
To be honest, as long as hapiness is linked to material possessions then I don’t think anyone can ever be truly happy. Some will get rich and just want more others will work themselves to death to try to get the life they’ve been told will be great for them.
I once read an article comparing American health care to other systems. The article’s basic premise was the focus of American health was fixing “broken” things while other countries focussed on prevention. The analogy they used was the American system spent time trying to put out fires while other systems merely kept their oily rags away from ignition sources. Sounds good on paper.
An ounce of prevention Vs A pound of cure, basically?
Exactly. I think the example they were comparing to was the Japanese though. I have heard some pretty bad things about that system recently.
A guy I talk to about the American system claims almost 50% of U.S. injuries are lifestyle related. That is sports and recreation.
Injuries, I could see, but I doubt that the majority of the burden heaped upon the American health care system is sports/recreation related. Lifestyle related? Certainly. I don’t think the level of obesity in America is helping at all. I’m certainly biased on that issue though, if I have one single prejudice, it’s against people who eat poorly with even worse exercise programs (IE: sedentary lifestyle).
I am rather uneducated on the issue though, so I could be completely wrong.
That’s a very good point.
Now what changed over that period that might have meant couples felt they needed two incomes to survive?
What changed is that real wages have stagnated - the average working wage has essentially not received a raise in 30 years (just “cost-of-living” increases)
Or in other words, our buying power has not increased in 30 years.
That isn’t so bad EXCEPT that housing values have increased at rates WELL OVER INFLATION for the last 30 years. When housing prices go up, rent follows (because real estate increases in value)
So what happens - the percentage of our total income spent on SHELTER ALONE has increased (and at a good clip) for the last 30 years. Whereas 30 years ago a married guy worknig 40 hours a week could pay for everything AND save, now that guy can barely afford to pay for much past his families rent - forcing the mother to work ANOTHER 40 hours to pay for everything else (food, entertainment, normal consumption)
Oh and Chads - Cuba’s healthcare is superb. A buddy of mine suffered a pretty serious injury vacationing there (involving windsailing) and he was taken to a local hospital… He required a pretty serious surgery for internal injuries + broken bones (including a minor spinal injury) - this was the type of injury that has you in physio for months afterwards - He said he has never had a better experience at a hospital - he ended up having to stay in Cuba an extra month before he could leave but made a full recovery. The physio care he received in Cuba was significantly better than what he received in Canada (in his estimation)
It also wasn’t just some “tourist hospital” - unless the place was full of actual local cubans who were paid to look injured/sick in the hospital.
Cuba is a destination for doctor training for most of South America - for good reason… they train their doctors well.
Mtnjim’s example wasn’t minorities - There are a HUGE number of women who don’t have/can’t afford medical insurance in the states - Yes there are free clinics - but oftentimes getting seen in one requires showing up early and waiting the ENTIRE DAY to be seen (that means a day off work… which means people skip it)
It also means the women don’t have a GP who actually knows them doing their check-ups… I can assure you that having a doctor who knows you and your history is a huge advantage.
Absolutely, someone who “gets it”!!
Hardly surprising wages “stagnated”. In WWII industry and infrastructure were carpet bombed and in some cases nuked in the entire world except for North America. In North America industrial capacity expanded for the war. For a long time after the war North American industry not only had a free hand in North America but also had to supply the rest of the world too. Add productivity gains to that and you have set the bar pretty high for future generations. Fast forward a couple of decades and other countries have ramped up production and compete with North America and it isn’t surprising wages are under pressure. Those golden years of high wages came at the expense of the rest of the world. No wonder France is bitter 
.
That’s really not the only reason Chad - I don’t have the statistics on hand but the percentage of total wealth that has gone to the wealthiest people in America has been steadily climbing since the 70’s
The GINI Index is a good indicator of distribution of wealth - essentially a gini index of 1 would indicate that 100% of income goes to 1 person whereas 0 would indicate that every single american made the exact same income.
Here is the graph of the US’ GINI index since the 50’s…
As you can see it has been steadily rising since the 70’s
So yes, while the US had an advantage after the war the loss of that advantage is NOT why the average middle class person hasn’t had a raise in 30 years - THE US GDP/Capita has risen significantly over that time… its just that the extra money has gone to a small (and getting smaller) percentage of the population.
Your graph is too small to read .
What years does it cover? The numbers according to the census bureau show things pretty steady from 2000 on and your graph shows an increase at the end.
Even so, I would argue that with U.S. business the only game in town post war, that meant U.S. labour was the only game in town too. That added leverage for labour could account for some of the lessening of the post war gap. As global competition increased wages would have been under downward pressure.
Demographics might play a role too. GINI is an indicator of current income. As baby boomers reached peak earning years their increasing incomes and large demographics may have skewed things somewhat.
Probably the largest aspect would be more business friendly policies enacted by Reagan though.
It starts @ 1945 and goes up to 1995
Essentially the nearly exponentially increasing GINI was from 1970 onwards
The 1970’s was when Women started to enter the workforce
There is no “American Dream”.
You are all slaves. Work to pay of your mortgage, pay your bills, do as you are told. 99.9999% of the worlds population is in slavery.
If you an afford it you can become a doctor, dentist, teacher, or any other kind of professional. Only if you can afford it. It does not matter if you are capable. What kind of “freedom” is that?
Take a look at your life and see what you really get out of it. How much time do you really have to enjoy yourself.
The American dream was manufactured to make you think you have it good, but you don’t really.
You work hard for twenty years and then along comes a recession and takes all that you’ve acquired.
Who benefits?
Fuck that only if you can afford it bullshit - There are plenty of federal loan programs out there if you don’t have the cash… you CAN work part-time and go to school full-time.
Yeh maybe you can’t get a Harvard Law Degree without the cash (unless you are brillant and get the full paid scholarship) - but there are certainly plenty of Universities out there that cost significantly less, and offer a good enough education to become a professional.
The problem is that people are scared of failing, or not getting that kind of job after college and ending up with a bunch of student debt and nothing to show for it - This attitude is bullshit, if you want it, if you know it is your passion… you will not fail at getting there.
I went to school with guys who didn’t have a penny to their name… worked their ass off part-time and during the summers and scraped (living with multiple roommates, lots of KD) to get their degrees - Those guys made it… it’s the kids from highschool who are going to uni because mommy and daddy want them to that fail.
Pollyanna