Quote:
Originally Posted by TheLegacy
I may get in trouble for saying this but things changed during the 80's when homes along with cost of living went up and no longer was there a single source of income - now the wife had to work. Having a 2 income family not only broke apart families but now kids after school were not monitored by a parent so they could do anything they wanted such as taking their gf or bf home and having sex. Birth rates went up - kids had nothing to do with their time so they got into trouble because parents weren't around.
Women's rights were now pushing for more equality and ability to look after themselves without someone else. In short - the family unit was being torn apart during that time.
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There were many 2 income households in the 60's and in the 70's.
House prices have always risen. My Dad and Mom bought our house in Levittown, NY in 1960 for $21k. It was sold in 1973 for $73k and that was a low price for the area. That house shows on zillow for 680,600. If the housing prices had risen as fast as they did in the 60's (3.47 times value in a decade) the house would have been in the mid $800k range by 1993. It is not.
Families were hardly being forced apart. As kids we had responsibilities that kids no longer have, I could cook on a stove by the time I was 5. By 8 I was allowed to use a stove unsupervised. We were expected to take on more responsibilities the older we got and more freedom as we showed we were responsible.
We were not given cars, we had to earn our own money. I started earning money when I was 5 or 6, collecting deposit bottles. The small ones were worth 2 cents and the big ones were a nickel. By age 12 I had a paper route and did babysitting for neighbor kids. By age 15 I was working as a waiter or busboy for several catering companies and at age 17 I started life guarding. My brothers and sisters and my friends were all working as that was the only way to get money because our parents sure weren't giving it to us.
Woman's rights were a very big issue in the 60's, culminating in the legalization of abortion in 1973. It wasn't until 1974 that a woman in the US could get a credit card in their own name. Politicians worked to keep women down and the corporate world tried to paint the picture of the Happy Housewife. In reality there was an epidemic of tranquilizer abuse. (insert here video of Mother's Little Helper by the Stones).
It is total bullshit that woman's rights and women working led to the breakdown of the American Family. It was divorce and the keeping women down that led to the breakdown of the American family.
And I still call bullshit on Huggle's minimum wage worker's buying house's easily at anytime in history. Could a minimum wage worker buy a house? Sure, if they saved up for a hell of a long time and signed onto a ridiculous interest rate. But the same is true today. With minimum wages hitting $20 ($40,000/year income) it is easier than ever before for a minimum wage worker to get into a house. Not all houses are in the $500k+ range. You can still score a decent house in the $150k range in many areas and with decent credit you can get approved on a $40k/year income.
Fact of the matter, after WWII a shitload of soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen came back from WWII and went to college on the GI bill. Thus a whole bunch of then were making quite a bit more than minimum wage. Then add top that the VA loan programs and developers creating low price housing for the returning vets. So between 1945 and 1960 it was a lot easier for many folks to get into houses but most were not minimum wage. They were predominantly white, middle class, protestant men that could afford housing.