I'm not buying this. The real issue is that people now demand more, larger, and more luxurious things and services. Think about how many things we view as necessities today that were pure luxury items 20, 40, 60 years ago. Everyone has to have their own phone. Multiple cars per family. Big vacations. The list goes on and on.
But the big one is housing. Take a look at how the average size of a new house in has grown since the 50's:
From less than 1000 sq. ft. to 2500.
AND the average family size has decreased by over 30% during that same time!
So please, don't give me the line that wages have not kept up. That's just a smoke screen to the real issue of the rampant increase of consumerism.
Kurt
Some points well taken. Yes, home sq ft have increased.
Here is the median wages in the US sourced by Wikipedia:
Year Wage Index Year Wage Index Year WageIndex
1951 $2,799.16 1952 $2,973.32 1953 $3,139.44
1954 $3,155.64 1955 $3,301.44 1956 $3,532.36
1957 $3,641.72 1958 $3,673.80 1959 $3,855.80
1960 $4,007.12 1961 $4,086.76 1962 $4,291.40
1963 $4,396.64 1964 $4,576.32 1965 $4,658.72
1966 $4,938.36 1967 $5,213.44 1968 $5,571.76
1969 $5,893.76 1970 $6,186.24 1971 $6,497.08
1972 $7,133.80 1973 $7,580.16 1974 $8,030.76
1975 $8,630.92 1976 $9,226.48 1977 $9,779.44
1978 $10,556.03 1979 $11,479.46 1980 $12,513.46
1981 $13,773.10 1982 $14,531.34 1983 $15,239.24
1984 $16,135.07 1985 $16,822.51 1986 $17,321.82
1987 $18,426.51 1988 $19,334.04 1989 $20,099.55
1990 $21,027.98 1991 $21,811.60 1992 $22,935.42
1993 $23,132.67 1994 $23,753.53 1995 $24,705.66
1996 $25,913.90 1997 $27,426.00 1998 $28,861.44
1999 $30,469.84 2000 $32,154.82 2001 $32,921.92
2002 $33,252.09 2003 $34,064.95 2004 $35,648.55
2005 $36,952.94 2006 $38,651.41 2007 $40,405.48
2008 $41,334.97 2009 $40,711.61 2010 $41,673.83
2011 $42,979.61 2012 $44,321.67 2013 $44,888.16
2014 $46,481.52 2015 $48,098.63 2016 $48,642.15
2017 $50,321.89
F
And here are the average home prices in California:
So, house prices, (on average) went from 5 x wages to almost 10 x wages from 1970 to now.
In Vancouver, Canada an average 1000 sq foot home went for 87,000 in 1988. Today that SAME home sold for 1.8 million dollars. Average wages in Vancouver in 1988 were 21 k and today are 54 k. So, a BASIC home went up 19 x and wages went up 2 x.
I can cite example after example and these quotes are on basic 1000 sq foot homes.
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