Dan Sullivan: This is awash with bad statistics. More people rented in 1971 because more people were young then. When you compare people within age brackets, far more people rent today. Also, when you compare rents to total income (or housing prices to total income) you also see that housing was far more affordable then than today. And debts were much lower. More people are in school because it is now harder to get a decent job without a higher education. And anecdotes about this guys father not withstanding, there were more one-job families back then, with mom staying at home to raise children and dad pulling enough to make ends meet. Yes, its great that todays women *can* have careers, but not so great that they *have to*. I was born in 1949, and the notion that we didnt have it easy compared to people coming of age today is just plain nonsense. When I was young and single, I worked part time at minimum wage, went to college for free, and had enough money left over to travel to folk festivals, etc. So, who is doing better today if the average person is doing worse? The rent collectors. We now have an economy based on rent-seeking for those at the top. We rent our money from banks, we rent the earth from landlords, and we pay taxes to prop up a huge military so private corporoations can suck the worlds oil out of the ground and sell it to us. Anyone want to compare taxes then and now? Anyone want to compare how much of todays taxes go for debt payments, compared to the taxes in 1970? Your baby-boomer parents had it easier unless you are black, as there was more racism back then, or unless you are very rich and living off the rest of us. If only this columnist had mentioned race or class, his article would not have been totally wrong.
Posted on: Tue, 05 Nov 2013 12:06:13 +0000
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