Quote from watchdaride:
why are we better off than our parents because we buy a new car every 3 years and take vacation all over the world.
Our homes are much bigger, we have more cars, we travel more, our kids fill their summers with weeklong camps. Long-distance and international flights are much more affordable. Buying the basics is much cheaper due to internationalization. People now have computers, bigscreen TVs, a host of devices, much better medical technology. Cancer used to be a death sentence, now many survive. The list goes on...
Its all done on credit . They have to pay the credit off, just like 30 years ago. Now you need 2 parents working with more debt than assets .
In the 50s and 60s, blacks and women were not even really allowed to get real jobs, only white males. Now they have much more mobility and freedom.
people pay there whole pay checks for the mortage and credit cards.
And they didn't have credit 30 years ago?
It will be interesting to see how people will do if there is a work slowdown. They are loosing there houses and bankruptcy is high with full employment now.
Same as any past recession. Remember the Great Depression?