Two parent households with both parents working "to make ends meet"??? What happened to the days Dad worked at the same job for thirty or forty years, Mom stayed at home raising the kids and you retired with a pension and a secure homestead? What happened?
2007-11-11 12:23:10 · 25 answers · asked by Anonymous in Politics & Government ➔ Politics
Not a reality? Really? My family doctor used to make house calls. Besides supermarkets, we had local corner grocery stores, pharmacies, department stores and a host of local business, Wal-Mart did not own the community.
2007-11-11 12:35:19 · update #1
Fact is that it revolves around the law of supply and demand. Before women came into the work force in mass, a single breadwinner was adequate to support a family. When women entered the work force, the labor force nearly doubled but he amount consumed was virtually the same. The result was that the cost of everything doubled. There were more dollars chasing the same amount of goods. Now most need two incomes to make it.
The glut of employees meant that employers did not have to offer as many or the same benefits to attract / retain employees. Today, if people refused to work for a company that did not provide a pension, the company would provide one to survive, but there are too many who will gladly work without one. The same goes for health benefits.
The recent increase in minimum wage did nothing to help those that work for minimum wages. If you notice prices for lunch etc jumped up as soon as it happened and will jump again on the next increase. It's all about dollars chasing services.
2007-11-11 12:43:46 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 2⤋
You asked several questions here I will attempt to answer them:
Should we be working our butts off to make ends meet? No
Is that the American dream? No
Two parent households with both parents working "to make ends meet"? No
What happened to the days Dad worked at the same job for thirty or forty years, Mom stayed at home raising the kids and you retired with a pension and a secure homestead?
Short answer: the government wanted to help
Long Answer: The government decided you weren't doing enough for the poor so they raised taxes allowing them to give money to those that hadn't earned it and were getting by (barely) without it.
This lowered Dad's take home pay. The family budget was squeezed and Mom went to work part time at the corner store. Little Billy was now coming home from school to an empty home. So all the kids with no authority figures present began acting like kids with no authority figures present.
Some politicians noticed this and decided there should be community centers for the kids to go to after school so they wouldn't be wondering the streets causing mischief untill 5:00 when Mom and Dad got home. To do this they had the Fed print up some money, devaluing the currency.
Now all that money Mom and Dad were working so hard for didn't go as far as it had last year so Mom starts working full time and Dad opts out of his pension in order to have more money in his take home pay.
The President decides we need an undeclared war in Veitnam. But wars cost money so the government raises taxes and prints more money.
This crunch gets too tight for Mom's boss and he has to close down the corner store. Mom gets a job at a national corporation. But the squeeze hits the family too not just the businesses so Dad starts working overtime to support his family. Now Billy spends most of his day with no parent figure and he only sees his dad on the weekends and the family starts racking up the credit card debt.
Then some kind hearted politician notices that the poor who were barely getting by before aren't getting by at all. Of coures the responsible, caring thing to do is to raise taxes to feed these poor folks.
Mom picks up a second job just to make interest payments.
2007-11-11 21:18:02 · answer #2 · answered by Nianque 4 · 4⤊ 0⤋
I'm from Canada and it is pretty much the same here. Market forces happened. More temporary jobs, loss of manufacturing jobs in North America, Free Trade and corporate greed could be some of the reasons.
I get kind of tired when people give the pat answer about getting an education. It's not always the case. We have engineers, doctors and other foreign trained professionals working at pizza joints and driving cabs. I have college but have been settling for low paying and unstable temporary work and service industry jobs for quite some time now.
2007-11-11 20:51:03 · answer #3 · answered by carefulspider@rogers.com 3 · 4⤊ 0⤋
People have gotten selfish these days. The majority of families the father could be the sole provider but kids these days want more and more, they are selfish.
Parents don't seem to think that parenting is a noble and important job. That is why the country has been going down the tubes since the baby boomers started having children.
2007-11-11 20:44:05 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 1⤋
Mom decided to go to work instead of staying home and taking care of the kids and home. As a result the household had more disposable income and wanted to go to a higher standard of living. A TV was a luxury in the days you are referring to. A husband can still make a living for a family today bu the has to know what is luxury and what is necessary. Most people today can't tell the difference.
2007-11-11 20:40:51 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 2⤋
What a great question, thank you...I think we overspend. I have lived on very little by researching frugul lifestyles such as that epitomized in books like The Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyzn.
People in other countries work their butts off and live on much less by practicing these principles.
This philosophy goes hand in hand with current environmental concerns and also leads to an overall healthier lifestyle.
2007-11-11 20:57:13 · answer #6 · answered by fantagirl 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Well, when the average square footage of the American garage became larger than the average square footage of a house built in the 50's, I think that is a pretty big indicator of what went wrong.
Consumerism to the max, to hell with credit card and mortgage payments.
And now the repayment of the debt begins....oil at $100, all sorts of financial indicators crumbling...
2007-11-11 20:28:27 · answer #7 · answered by powhound 7 · 8⤊ 0⤋
No. The American economy is run by consumer spending, 2/3s of it to be precise. The Government wants us to spend, as does the rest of the world, as we are an import heavy society...this is why we always have a trade deficite. The reality is, this is no longer a democracy. The concept of democracy has become the opium to the masses. We are a Capitalist Serfdom. You are borned indentured to credit, and you will die that way. As long as Americans keep thinking they truly need a -6% savings rate, so they can get that house, car, tv, ipod, new cell phone, etc, we will always remain serfs.
2007-11-11 20:39:31 · answer #8 · answered by Kiker 5 · 4⤊ 3⤋
It depends on what your dream is..the American dream is unique to each individual, that's the beauty of it...if plasma TVs and luxury cars are your dream then yes, you must work hard to achieve it. If a simple home and a small family are your dream, you don't have to work quite as hard to pay for it...it's up to you.
2007-11-11 20:31:50 · answer #9 · answered by Erinyes 6 · 2⤊ 2⤋
What happened is people forgot how to live on what they make. ANY family can live on one income if they don't spend money on things they don't NEED. Most of us no longer know that WANT does not equal NEED.
Examples include:
I NEED a car. I WANT a car worth more than $3000.
I NEED a place to live. I WANT to own a 3 bedroom house.
I NEED to eat. I WANT to eat out on a regular basis.
NONE of us needs a TV or High-Speed Internet access.
2007-11-11 20:39:41 · answer #10 · answered by STEVEN F 7 · 6⤊ 2⤋