[quote=sdrealtor]I think most people still can graduate from high school and get a job that could support themselves and possibly an entire family on one income today. The problem is they arent content to live the way people used to. The attitude of todays modest jobholders is there is no reason they shouldnt have a cell phone, iPod, computer w/ internet access, a new car every few years, designer clothes, take nice vacations, go out to dinner and have a flat panel TV. When i was growing up we kept cars 10 years, had one TV in the house we kept for 20 years, one phone number, we rarely took vacations and dinner out was a bucket of chicken from Colonel Sanders (and that was a rare treat). Most of my clothes were hand me downs from relatives and I was the 3rd or 4th person to wear them. I grew up in an upper middle class area but expectations have changed as has the world. You cant have it both ways.[/quote]
We disagree. That flat panel TV costs less, as a percentage of income, than the older TVs did. Internet access is now necessary in order to apply for most jobs. While many people have cell phones, many of them just use their cell phone, and don’t have a land line. A simple, cheap cell phone plan costs less, as a percentage of income, than non-cell phones cost back in the 60s and 70s. Clothing is also cheaper, as a percentage of income, than it was when we were growing up.
While the families you associate with might go on many exotic vacations; most poor, working people do not.
