see that's what I thought you meant, but usually (granted not always) how successful you are and how much money you make depends on you... and your desire to do what you need to do....

not everyone could afford things back in our parents day, but our access to all those things has greatly increased.

I'm on my phone so i can't. Google it, there's a couple popular articles on it floating around. There's a couple journal articles on it too.

I don't see how technological progress changes things from purely wealth based perspective. Like cellphones vs no cellphones of our parents generation?

That's just incorporated into the standard of living equation. Not adjusting for something like that would be just as disingenuous as not adjusting for inflation.

It's not just about how much you make. It's about the cost of everything else, increased debt, terrible job market, etc.

Did your parents have to take on 30 000k debt to get a bachelors degree that isn't even sufficient in most cases anymore to get a job?

I'm in year 8 of post secondary education, sure i'll have 3 degrees when i'm done including a JD, but i won't be making cash hand over fist. Thankfully i've taken on almost no debt because i've always worked and have been really careful with my money, not something i can say about a majority of my friends.

My dad has nothing more than a high school education and has cleared 6 figures for a long time now.

This post was edited by Wakeskater77 on Nov 20 2013 10:53pm

I've seen numbers thrown around that wealth has declined from 1980-2010 in real terms for ~60% of households, whereas the remaining 40% have made gains.

I'm asking how they incorporate standard of living into a discussion about real wealth, because that's a pretty subjective thing. Is this just real wealth (adjusted for inflation)? Is this based on purchasing power? Cars have gotten cheaper, for instance, and technological advancements have led to increasing gains in quality of life.



The job market is terrible right now, sure, but that was a different picture in the early 2000s, we're in for a rude awakening if the economic downturn is permanent.

This post was edited by bogie160 on Nov 20 2013 10:56pm

see there again though I have a problem with a lot of those kinds of things, first off I think the price of college tuition has gotten FUCKING RIDICULOUS... and more so in certain areas (from experience med schools are fucking robbing us blind, my tuition is over 80k a year) but all that aside, people getting the right degrees will be able to get a job.. or people who work hard at finding a job... anyone with an engineering degree WILL find a job... someone with a comm or business degree.... maybe not.

The way I see is it compare an 18 year old now, to an 18 year old 40 years ago... there is no comparison who has the better life...
Compare someone in a typical 9-5 job now vs 40 years ago.... the person with that 9-5 now can afford a computer, and ipad, and smartphone... and probably a vacation every year... back then, they couldn't afford that..

yes it's harder to find a job, but there is also a LOT more people on the planet now vs then... all in all.. our standard of living is WAY better now imo.

I keep reading this everywhere, but the simple fact is that there's only 1 STEM field job opening available to new grads for every 2 STEM graduates each year. I also know a healthy chunk of people with engineering degrees that have literally been searching for years and haven't gotten an "engineering" job.

I don't know. When i get a chance i'll try and find those articles for you. Maybe friday when i have time lol.



How can you say they don't couldn't affird computers back then when they didn't exist in the consumer realm?

You have to think in constant terms. Just because we can buy more shit now does not mean we are better off economically.

Look at what matters. Look at education costs, look at gas prices, look at housing costs. Those are going to be some of the biggest indicators of economic welfare, not electronic trinkets.

Yes, unemployment is bad and job prospects are very poor, it's misleading when it's suggested that the youth just aren't looking hard enough.

That's because I didn't say "engineering job" I said job.... if you have an engineering degree you can find a fairly good job... you may be a chemical engineer working for a company that doesn't deal in chemicals, but you will find a job...



computers back when my dad was my age cost between 1,000 and 2,000 dollars... my dads car (a newish model mustang) cost him 3200$........ personal computers started to come out around 1960-1970, they were basic.. shitty.... and had hardly any memory.. but they were there.

how do YOU describe our economics now vs then? if you can't do it based on access to goods, ability to purchase said goods.... how do you define it then? by debt? debt nowadays doesn't even come close to the same meaning it had back then...

Cash hand over fist isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Also, there's a good chance most parents couldn't afford to got to post-secondary let alone accumulate debt because of it. My father was born in the 40s, my mother in the 50s, my father could never afford to go to University and my mother racked up lots of debt.