tangomonster
Full time employment: Posting here.
- Joined
- Mar 20, 2006
- Messages
- 757
Interesting research done by a think tank about US economic mobility
(on Economic Mobility Project). What they found is that men in their thirties actually made more money in 1974 (median income of $40,000) compared to men of the same age in 2004 ($35,000). These may not be absolute numbers, but may be adjusted for inflation. But it showed a 12% decrease in income and challenged the presumption that each generation will do better than the one that came before.
I avoided taking Economics in college (being a dumb psychology major---who started at a salary of $10,000 after a master's degree in 1978!), but I do realize this has a lot of social and economic implications for indviduals and for society as a whole, with decreasing morale. But my question is whether it really would be possible to expect every generation to "do better" than the one that preceded it? Wouldn't there be a point where it just wouldn't be possible? And I'm not a parent so I can't relate to the hope that a parent has that life will be easier/more rewarding for one's kids, but isn't there ever a point where we have enough, even if we're not making more than our parents? For example, us who have ER'd at 50---is it a failure if our kids can't retire at 40? If we have a house that's 4000 square feet, is it a tragedy if the kids live in a house that size or smaller?
(on Economic Mobility Project). What they found is that men in their thirties actually made more money in 1974 (median income of $40,000) compared to men of the same age in 2004 ($35,000). These may not be absolute numbers, but may be adjusted for inflation. But it showed a 12% decrease in income and challenged the presumption that each generation will do better than the one that came before.
I avoided taking Economics in college (being a dumb psychology major---who started at a salary of $10,000 after a master's degree in 1978!), but I do realize this has a lot of social and economic implications for indviduals and for society as a whole, with decreasing morale. But my question is whether it really would be possible to expect every generation to "do better" than the one that preceded it? Wouldn't there be a point where it just wouldn't be possible? And I'm not a parent so I can't relate to the hope that a parent has that life will be easier/more rewarding for one's kids, but isn't there ever a point where we have enough, even if we're not making more than our parents? For example, us who have ER'd at 50---is it a failure if our kids can't retire at 40? If we have a house that's 4000 square feet, is it a tragedy if the kids live in a house that size or smaller?