- cross-posted to:
- aboringdystopia@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- aboringdystopia@lemmy.world
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Look up 'Hell’s Angels" by Hunter Thompson.
There’s a chapter in the book where he talks about the economics of being a biker/drop out/artist circa 1970.
A biker could work six months as a union stevedore and earn enough to stay on the road for two years. A part time waitress could make enough to support herself and her musician boyfriend.
Or, to put it another way, in 1960 minimum wage was $1.00/hour and the cost of the average home was $11,000.00. A burger flipper could get hired on high school graduation day and be a home owner in 20 years without ever getting a raise.
You can still be a nomad at today’s wages. I have a friend who works for a school year as a teacher, and then travels extensively for a couple of years. He lives like a nomad though, no fancy hotels or accommodations. That’s what the Hell’s Angels did back then too, in addition to plenty of additional illegal activities which provided them extra funding.
Well, one other thing in the 70s was everyone kind of lived a simpler life anyway. Not many had really luxurious things, and most places weren’t trying to be anything fancy. It’s just a place to live and the basics for most. I love what we have today, but I also miss those times as well since nobody cared if your place of living wasn’t up to date with all the luxeries we come to take for granted as necessities or judged for possibly not having them.
in the '70s*
Wow thanks for clearing that up lol
Home ownership was lower in the 1960s than it is now:
https://www.advisorperspectives.com/dshort/updates/2024/01/30/home-ownership-rate-q4-2023
…And?
Some folks try to play off that people are richer today because you have more two car families. The counter argument is that if both parents work the family needs two cars. One fact alone doesn’t paint the picture.
I’m saying the 1960s were worse. By any measure
So, you believe that all the technological and medical improvements of the past six decades were the result of massive inflation and the collapse of the middle class?
Could you elucidate?
What are you talking about? We are richer now than then.
Just look up, I don’t know, the percentage of homes with hot water or electricity. Look up percentage of homes with an indoor toilet. It’s nearly 100% now… But in 1960s these were not a given
Or, to put it another way, in 1960 minimum wage was $1.00/hour and the cost of the average home was $11,000.00. A burger flipper could get hired on high school graduation day and be a homeowner in 20 years without ever getting a raise.
Are you saying that all the technological and medical progress of the last 60 years was a direct result of the decrease of real wages?
Real wages are up since the 1960s
My idea of becoming rich isn’t a fancy mansion… It’s having enough for all of my essentials and having plenty left over…
Ya know, what used to be normal?
I hate that we consider that rich. Being able to have a normal home, food on table and a bit left over for rainy days shouldn’t be considered rich, it should be the baseline for everyone.
I wish I could both afford to have health insurance and afford to go to the doctor. I can’t even afford to get insurance on my car and the health insurance cost 20% of my income but has a $2,000 deductible? What the fuck?!
Deductibles should be illegal it’s like “I have insurance, but not really”
The purchasing of the median person power has NEVER been higher than now
https://home.treasury.gov/news/featured-stories/the-purchasing-power-of-american-households
what time period are you referring to?
The figure referenced in this tweet is likely referring to the 2021 net compensation chart we saw making the rounds a few weeks back. Indeed, it’s correct, ~50% of all Americans made less than 35k per year in net total compensation in 2021.
In 2022, that figure rose to ~40k. So the trend is going in the right direction, at least. And IIRC, the chart does include teenagers, college students, people working part time or underemployed, etc.
Also, that first “stop” sentence is a bit ‘ironic’, considering that statistically, in the US at least, the poorer you are, the more children you have.
35k I assume of dollars per year? Which is roughly 2900000 roubles month. I have another question: why the fuck everything is so expensive? 2.9M ₽/month is a lot. You can buy flat every few months in Moscow. Something is wrong with your economy and policies if THAT considered small.
Because NIBMYs keep voting against new housing which raises the rents, raises the cost to buy a house. In places that develop, rents are trending lower, while in places that don’t the rents keep going up
How the fuck is anyone alive?
Because the number is from before the pandemic when Trump was president
It appears that the claim that half of Americans make under $35,000 is not accurate. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the median personal income in the United States for 2022 was $40,480 (FRED - https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEPAINUSA646N). Additionally, data from DQYDJ shows that at the 40th percentile, income was approximately $58,001, suggesting that less than half of the population earns under $35,000 (DQYDJ – Don’t Quit Your Day Job - https://dqydj.com/average-median-top-household-income-percentiles/).
Furthermore, the median household income was reported to be $74,580 in 2022, a figure that significantly exceeds the $35,000 threshold (Census.gov - https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2023/demo/p60-279.html). This indicates that the median individual and household incomes in the U.S. are both higher than $35,000, disproving the initial claim.
If the median household income is 75k, assuming dual-income, then that’s probably where the 35k comes from: 75k/2 = 37.5k.
But there are significant amount of households who just have one person making 75K instead
so per worker, it’s actually 59K according to the data
98% outside of America make less than 35k.
Edit: there is a huge caveat in my post which is I missed that these are household numbers, not individual numbers.
That would be amazing if it were true, but it’s not. In 2022 the median income in USA was over $74k
Source: https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2023/demo/p60-279.html / https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/demo/tables/p60/279/tableA1.xlsx
Reminder that median means "half of the samples are above this point and half of the samples are below, which means exactly what was stated in the OP “half of America”
I fully support the ideas from OP that corporations need to pay people better and wages need to at least attempt to track economic gains, but we can send that message while telling the truth and citing our sources to prove that the message is legit.
The median net compensation for American workers in 2019 was $34,248.45, which is less than $35,000. So, the claim in the screenshot is apparently accurate for individuals. Granted, household income is a better indication of socioeconomic standing for people with spouses.
That’s from when Trump was president, it’s $CURRENT_YEAR, for God’s sake
