[quote=sdrealtor]You didnt disagree you engaged in strawman. We had 1 TV we kept for 20 years. We never ate out. It wasnt that clothes were more or less, we used hand me downs and 4 to 5 different kids wore them. We had 1 phone line for 6 people not 6. We didnt go on exotic vacations even though we were upper middle class. My next door neighbor (a very successful dr) kept a Buick Skylark for 15 years. We just lived differently back then as did most people. The world is a different place today.[/quote]
Agree with all of your post, sdr, but also agree with CAR that clothing, electronics, vehicles, etc cost families a much larger percentage of household income than they do today.
For instance, when we got our first color TV (new) in 1966 it cost my dad over $500 (purchased in Oakland, CA):
Our monthly household income at that time was approx $1,200 (MC to upper MC). Today a family with a household income of $1,200, who needs a TV will purchase it for <=$50 from a garage sale or ask a relative to give them an extra one they might have sitting around. They also qualify for an EBT card (formerly "food stamps") and MAY even qualify for Medi-Cal.
