Timeline for Has the distribution of income and wealth in the USA got much more skewed towards the rich in the last 4 decades?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
5 events
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| Apr 10, 2021 at 12:18 | comment | added | Peter - Reinstate Monica | @shoover Another thing is that "standard of living" in this context is not a static enumeration of material wealth but the dynamic property of belonging to a social stratum. The point is that today, often both adults must work to not slide back economically. The absolute wealth may be larger; the relative position in a society that is altogether richer than 40 years ago has not risen. That is, I think, the whole point of the article: Productivity has risen enormously; wages for the middle class have risen as well but not as spectacularly. (For the bottom fifth they have even fallen.) | |
| Apr 10, 2021 at 9:44 | comment | added | Peter - Reinstate Monica | @shoover I think not all families today with double earners enjoy all of the added quality you describe, and not all of the single-earner families were missing it in 1980 (e.g., in America it was probably not uncommon to have two cars and go to the hairdresser). There is probably some added luxury coming from a double income but probably not proportional. The comparison is also complicated. Some things like smartphones or streaming were James-Bond issue in 1980. | |
| Apr 9, 2021 at 23:41 | comment | added | shoover | "the standard of living that was once provided by a single earner" ... you mean, homecooked meals (no eating out or drinking fancy cocktails at bars), zero or one bathroom per house, one or two bedrooms per family, zero or one TV that gets 3 or 4 channels, no home computer, one landline phone, one car, no air conditioning, no nails/waxing/haircuts by people outside the family, obviously no streaming services, homesewn clothes and/or hand-me-downs from older family members...? | |
| Apr 6, 2021 at 7:18 | history | edited | Peter - Reinstate Monica | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
added 140 characters in body
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| Apr 4, 2021 at 19:11 | history | answered | Peter - Reinstate Monica | CC BY-SA 4.0 |