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kane · 09-20-2013, 01:26 PM

A few weeks ago I was reading a story about how the middle class is failing in big part because prices have been rising much faster than than wages.

Since 1980 the average wage in the US has gone up about $6000 per year (interesting enough $4500 of that came during Clinton's terms). That works out to an average increase of about 15 cents per hour per year. Not good. At the same time the costs of housing, as you would expect, has also gone up. The problem is that the cost of the average home in the US has gone up an amount that works out to be about 90 cents per hour.

That wouldn't be so bad if housing was the only thing to skyrocket in cost, but we also have healthcare, cost of food, cost of transportation and pretty everything else. The article showed that the average US household's disposable income is about 75% smaller than it was in 1980. This causes those households to get more debt. Where they used to pay for a vacation or a new TV or school clothes for the kids or even a college education with cash before now they use credit.

It was a pretty depressing article that essentially said if things continue on as they are eventually it will break the back of the middle class and cause even more economic problems than we already have.

09-20-2013, 01:26 PM
kane Too lazy to set a custom title Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: portland, OR Posts: 20,684	A few weeks ago I was reading a story about how the middle class is failing in big part because prices have been rising much faster than than wages. Since 1980 the average wage in the US has gone up about $6000 per year (interesting enough $4500 of that came during Clinton's terms). That works out to an average increase of about 15 cents per hour per year. Not good. At the same time the costs of housing, as you would expect, has also gone up. The problem is that the cost of the average home in the US has gone up an amount that works out to be about 90 cents per hour. That wouldn't be so bad if housing was the only thing to skyrocket in cost, but we also have healthcare, cost of food, cost of transportation and pretty everything else. The article showed that the average US household's disposable income is about 75% smaller than it was in 1980. This causes those households to get more debt. Where they used to pay for a vacation or a new TV or school clothes for the kids or even a college education with cash before now they use credit. It was a pretty depressing article that essentially said if things continue on as they are eventually it will break the back of the middle class and cause even more economic problems than we already have.