41–50 of 93 posts
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My grandpa became a multi-millionaire even though he dropped out of middle school. Born into a working class German family where no one really valued education. Good luck doing that now. Grammar edit, guess we still don't value education.
He became a multi-millionaire in middle school?
Quite doable now for the enterprising middle-schoolers making ASMR and unwrapping videos.
Now that I’m a bit older (29) it’s fascinating to reflect back on my childhood and teenage years in the context of economic trends. I’ve been interviewing my grandpa to make a biography of his life and it’s mind-blowing to hear about how different the 50s were. A teacher (grandpa) and a part-time worker (grandma) supporting 2 babies and a senior (great grandma), yet still able to buy a home in Millbrae and a plot of…
My grandpa became a multi-millionaire even though he dropped out of middle school. Born into a working class German family where no one really valued education. Good luck doing that now. Grammar edit, guess we still don't value education.
Another way of writing the same title that sounds completely different: "Inflation adjusted US wages reach highest level since 1973." I'll never understand what compels journalists (or wannabe journalists) to insert words like "finally" into their headlines. It would have been just fine without that one word.
How much did a 55” LCD TV cost in 1973? Cuz they’re $249 now.
Using that logic, a homeless person with a casio watch is better off than Charlemagne. We should be comparing now with now. And most importantly, we should be comparing wealth inequality because wealth translates directly to power and wealth inequality means power inequality. Nobody is competing against anyone from 1973 or 1873. We are competing against people today. And the accumulation of wealth and power by a smal…
Now that I’m a bit older (29) it’s fascinating to reflect back on my childhood and teenage years in the context of economic trends. I’ve been interviewing my grandpa to make a biography of his life and it’s mind-blowing to hear about how different the 50s were. A teacher (grandpa) and a part-time worker (grandma) supporting 2 babies and a senior (great grandma), yet still able to buy a home in Millbrae and a plot of…
The changes you're talking about regarding quality of life more have to do with increased costs for housing in developed coastal areas. A teacher and a part-time worker can still afford to raise a family today, they're just doing it in Texas or Iowa rather than the Bay Area. You can buy a beautiful 3BR house in a good school district in Des Moines (and frankly, tons of other places in America) for a bit over $200k.
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Using that logic, a homeless person with a casio watch is better off than Charlemagne. We should be comparing now with now. And most importantly, we should be comparing wealth inequality because wealth translates directly to power and wealth inequality means power inequality. Nobody is competing against anyone from 1973 or 1873. We are competing against people today. And the accumulation of wealth and power by a smal…
The homeless person is better off than Charlemagne
How much did a 55” LCD TV cost in 1973? Cuz they’re $249 now.
Yes, we should account for technological improvements in the quality of our lives. In fact, it's the only way to have long-term improvement in real, appropriately measured consumption. And yes, there are creature comforts you can buy today that were darn near impossible back then.
But ... you need to weight these improvements by relative impact. Yes, TVs are better. But how much utility they can really add to your life is limited. They're little comfort when the important things -- like not being bankrupted by health care costs -- eat up all the rest.
If you buy too much into the importance of better TVs, you end up like Fed banker William Dudley, and insist that living costs went down, even as every bill went up, because iPads are faster.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-fed-dudley-ipad-idUST...
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The homeless person is better off than Charlemagne
Considering that the homeless person likely does not have food security or a place to live, which I would consider to be significantly more important than being able to tell the time, I would have to disagree with your claim that the homeless person is “better off”.
How much did a 55” LCD TV cost in 1973? Cuz they’re $249 now.
Okay, I don't think you should be downvoted to oblivion, but this is a hard point to get right. Yes, we should account for technological improvements in the quality of our lives. In fact, it's the only way to have long-term improvement in real, appropriately measured consumption. And yes, there are creature comforts you can buy today that were darn near impossible back then. But ... you need to weight these improveme…
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Can you live in a TV and eat it? Cause the average rent was $175 dollars a month http://www.littlehouseinthevalley.com/cost-of-living-compari...
Thank you for proving my point that life is very different today than it was in 1973, and that comparing wages across decades is dumb.