Very true. About 20 years ago, I was making about $25k and we could not have survived if my wife didn’t get a job.

Sep 27, 2024
8:53:17am

KingDave The Movie Guy

We lived in a crappy apartment and had no luxuries (necessities today). We didn’t have cellphones, we had 1 car, we had cheap internet, a small TV, and we never went on vacations. Our circumstances really were and still are quite common.

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KingDave

Previous username: (Private)
Bio page: KingDave
Joined: Oct 12, 2009
Last login: Sep 27, 2024
Total posts: 70,819 (21,298 FO)

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Messages

Author

Time

What do you think the main cause for both parents needing to work today is?

conetah

12:12am

Cost of goods, services, living, are high and a one middle class income can't cover it.

TANK

12:17am

Yep, they’re not DINKS.

Q-grr

7:44am

Exponential rises in the cost of healthcare, housing, food, insurance.

rad dawg

12:18am

Darn those MBAs.

dYrtbYkerYder

7:31am

Right?

Dryfire

7:35am

But those exponential increases have to be supported by the ability to pay. If

DiamondMo

7:37am

Yes and no.

rad dawg

8:59am

I agree it’s a chicken or the egg thing. But industry didn’t just become greedy.

DiamondMo

9:26am

As economic opportunities available to women increased, more chose to work and..

BYU'01

9:31am

Impact of the pill. Now more women can choose, and many choose to work. As hard

dYrtbYkerYder

9:38am

In 1964 <7% of women had a college degree. That’s ~6x higher today. With

BYU'01

10:17am

And you don't think that's related to the pill coming out in 1960?

dYrtbYkerYder

11:18am

Government interference in healthcare, housing, insurance, and education

Dryfire

7:43am

Crony capitalism

rad dawg

9:06am

Which is just another word for socialism

Dryfire

9:23am

Should we call higher ed an 'industry'? It is dominated by government. Gov'ts

BYU'01

9:33am

Yes its an industry.

rad dawg

10:27am

Our society - global, national, local - has never been wealthier

BYU'01

8:42am

So, we don't like capitalism anymore?

WDaddy

8:50am

Up to “complete insanity” spot on. After that lolol. MBA’s causing inflation lol

Big Daddy D

9:27am

MBAs ruin most things. They have definitely done a lot to ruin Medicine

JosephAllenMaldonado

11:14am

All of the above plus a need/desire for excess.

mulletino

12:20am

Higher standard of living, and lower wages

Jericho

12:32am

To your point. What used to be luxuries are now necessities. You cannot survive

Powerbait DPM

8:27am

Another thing to add, “starter homes” are now much bigger and more expensive

Powerbait DPM

8:55am

Our consumption relative to our grandpas is staggering. We are so wealthy.

BYU'01

8:48am

Two household incomes becoming the norm many years ago, which created more

CougFan4EverEver

12:36am

“Unintended”

BaseCoug

12:49am

Agreed

conetah

3:50am

Yep, now schools and media control the agenda for kids instead of string nuclear

palangi

5:35am

This is a big part of the answer. A 2-income household in a world of 1-income

delbert

2:18am

I think this is the primary answer as well. If everyone gets a 2nd income the

DiamondMo

7:31am

All other answers are correct, but I’d ad that at least in America, middle class

gwalker

12:39am

As middle class you bought your home before this exponential inflation because

palangi

5:40am

It's funny because I hear some of my younger coworkers complain all the time

cougarfan84

6:34am

Yeah, they’re not middle class, they’re just financially stupid

palangi

7:04am

If you had to buy your house today would the mortgage payment really only

JuicyJam

7:29am

They are nearly 3x the median US household income

BYU'01

7:36am

In 1980 the US was in the middle of one of the worst inflationary periods ever

bythenumbers

7:14am

A 20 inch color TV in 1980 cost over $1,300 2024 dollars. Crazy.

Byron McNertney

8:25am

We never had cable TV, cell phones, Internet. Our TV was 27”. Vacations where we

BYU'01

7:18am

The most important holiday in America used to be Christmas, and we didn't have

Shihan

12:49am

If you’re doing Halloween right there’s a lot of free candy to be had.

Q-grr

7:46am

Greed. All around

BaseCoug

12:52am

FOMO

Dr MoBYU

12:55am

Middle class w 1 working parent is dying.

VenomFarmer

1:57am

Need?

MormonThug

2:55am

How low could your income be and your wife still be able to stay at home? $80k? $60k? $50k?

KingDave

3:05am

You're asking the wrong crowd. Did you forget? Everyone on CB is north of $500K

Y05

3:43am

Very true. About 20 years ago, I was making about $25k and we could not have survived if my wife didn’t get a job.

KingDave

8:53am

Well, in our family’s case….

Yukon

3:09am

Man I had a beautifully crafted explanation I typed up but it didn’t save haha

conetah

3:18am

Reattempt: I’ll try to summarize.

conetah

3:46am

Primary worker income earnings is insufficient.

Recipefordisaster

3:18am

Yup. I work for the church and we can't do it on one.

IronPotato

7:42am

Everybody else is doing it, so they have more disposable income

Y05

3:29am

When everyone does the extra credit, it's no longer extra credit

Dataguy

3:33am

As # of dual-income families increase, so does the cost of living & real estate.

cougfrvr

4:31am

People like stuff. I used to do home health. Met a lot of people that raised 5

Squirt

4:32am

I bet you have a lot of stories you could share!

tyler durden

5:32am

Need/want confusion. I agree with a lot of what has been written here

Gentleman Stan

4:51am

The rise of too many other dual-income homes

Gustav

4:53am

An unfortunately ironic result of feminism

Gustav

4:55am

I think we are needier now. We think we need everything. We go to more

boctabulous

6:10am

lol. Survival. Especially if you live in California.

Idacoug

6:15am

We've always been and continue to be a single-income home.

jdub

6:22am

My wife works because she enjoys it and it helps her keep her sanity.

supertux

6:29am

This is exactly my wife’s perspective as well.

RootieBoy

6:51am

Feminism and materialism

CaliforniaCougar22

6:41am

My wife is working to basically pay off student loans.

Future_Tacos

6:43am

Interestingly, I read a book called "The Two Income Trap"

Courtimedes

6:54am

I think that if costs dropped drastically then that would just mean we would all

boctabulous

6:54am

Materialism

ballen

7:10am

The original cause was materialism and necessity, but now it’s leaning heavy

palangi

7:15am

I don't know, but when my dad was my age as the sole* income

JuicyJam

7:24am

Also, way too easy to spend our money. Used to be that you had to get up and

boctabulous

7:32am

<< Deleted >>

IronPotato

7:38am

Well, I work for the church and market value for what I do is too low to be a

IronPotato

7:43am

People want too much stuff.

TailgateU

7:47am

Ring alarm, disney plus, hulu, netflix, spotify, pandora, youtubetv, HBO max,

boctabulous

8:01am

You probably listed like $150-$200/month in subscriptions. Rising cost of housing, groceries, utilities is easily the

RootieBoy

8:20am

However, that was not my first post in this thread. Far from it. I was simply

boctabulous

9:11am

There is a book about this.

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