Why does it seem like the middle class is struggling more now compared to the 1960s, even though taxes on the wealthy are lower today?

Great question, and the answer is really simple. It’s because people are not living like they did in the 1960s.

If you did that, you wouldn’t be struggling.

The first thing that people in the 1960s did differently, is that no one anywhere got a job that any high school drop out could get, that pays what a high school drop earns, and then complained they were living the life of a high school drop out.

No one did that.

Everyone understood that if you wanted a middle class life, that you needed a middle class job that pays a middle class wage.

And I see way too many people trying to work low-skill no-skill jobs, and then complaining that their lives suck.

So that’s the first problem. The second problem is that people lived more meager lives

In the 1960s hardly anyone went out to eat for breakfast, or lunch, or dinner.

You had breakfast at home. You slapped some baloney on bread, and you carried that to work, and that was lunch. And then you had dinner at home.

People simply didn’t go out to eat all the time.

And you didn’t have cable TV, or internet, most didn’t have air conditioning. If you were hot, you opened a window to let in the hot air, and then blew it in your face with a fan, and usual a fan you held in your hand.

You didn’t have Netflix, or game consoles with subscriptions. No cell phones, or smart phones, or expensive phone plans, which each kid and toddler with a phone. (which you shouldn’t be giving kids phones anyway).

And no computers, no internet, no TVs in every room.

And it here’s a big one… the size of the house.
From the 1950s to 1960s, the average house size went from 900 sqft to 1200 sqft.

Do you know what the average house size is today? 2,500 sqft. More than double the size of a house in the 1960s.

Into the 1960s many homes still didn’t have hot water, and most didn’t have AC, and insulation was catching on. But importantly most houses had minimum wiring for electricity, after all there wasn’t anything to plug in. Again people only had 1 TV, and a couple of lamps. There were no phone chargers, or laptops or game consoles to plug in.

And these smaller homes were built on smaller lots.

Small house on a small lot. This is a 1960s house right here.

Way cheaper. And you can easily afford a house like this. Very easily.

And of course, health care was cheaper, because you just died. Even into the 1960s children still were dying of whooping cough.

Do you know what the treatment for a heart attack was in the 1960s? They gave you aspirin, and then sent you to bed with a bottle of jack daniels. They didn’t even take you to the hospital. They just sent you to bed, and hoped you were alive in the morning.

People today whine and cry about the cost of health care, but fail to realize that it really wasn’t that long ago when many of the things you can get care for today, didn’t exist. And if you got this or that illness, you just died.

And cars were cheaper. They didn’t have government regulations like CAFE standards, that made cars horrifically expensive.

But even aside from the insane government regulations that make cars expensive, cars were just cheaper in the past, because they were cheap.

There was no rear defrost. There was no power windows in most cars. Your power was your arm turning the handle. And reaching across the seat to unlock the passenger door, that was your power locks.

There was no Bluetooth radio, or satellite radio, or Sirius radio, or CD player, or cassette player, or 8-track player, or even FM radio. You had an AM radio with 3 stations you could pick up, and only 2 that sounded good.

And the car broke down constantly, and flat tires constantly. But you could afford it!

And everything I’ve said here, leads back to the question, why are people struggling today?

Because they demand more, but don’t want to work more. And it’s really that simple.

You demand to have a bigger house, and cable TV, and high speed internet, and Netflix, and new smart phones, and big family phone plans, and you want to go out to eat twice a day, and you want a really good car, and have house a perfect 72° year round.

All of this costs money.

If you lived like people did in the 1960, you would have money coming out your ears.

Buy a small 1,200 sqft house, with a small lot. Only have 1 TV, no cable, only watch broadcast TV. No smart phones. Have just on phone that everyone shares. No computers, no internet, and no going out to eat. Eat every meal at home like a family, and instead of game consoles tell your kids to play outside, or even more crazy, play card games with your kids like a family. And you buy a cheap car, and make do with it.

You do that, and you will have more money than you know what to do with.

The problem is you don’t want a 1960 life. You want a 2025 life. But you don’t want to a 2025 level job to pay for it. You want to do a 1960 job, and afford a 2025 life.

Sorry. I don’t know what to tell you. You can’t have that. You can’t earn a 1960s wage, and pay for a 2025 life. That will never happen.

If you want a modern life, you need a modern job, with a modern pay check to cover that modern life.

And that’s why people are struggling. They demand more than their pay checks cover. That’s it. That simple.