I'll say this: out of the kids i went to high schol with (late 20s)- only a couple are making enough money to truly "live the dream"... these are people with advanced degrees who are either in ridiculous student loan debt or come from direct wealth or wealth through inheritance and who have little taste for fancy things and a stomach for the same cheap food over and over.
I think we can agree that the dream is measured by the money left over each month on top of a mortgage, bills, food, car/lease, bf/gf/wives/husbands/pets, two vacations a year.
Where I went to college, your average studio runs 900 to 1300 a month... your 1-bedroom apartments are 1250 to 1900. Wherever that's the case, poverty will exist and the gap will grow exponentially. When I broke up with my girl at the time, my full-time 19 an hour job was barely enough to share a condo with a bunch of 30 something children.
The economy will improve, ebb flow, crash, improve, etc... until the end of civilization... one thing that hasn't changed is the growing gap between the middle (now the lower) and upper class.
I think we can agree that the dream is measured by the money left over each month on top of a mortgage, bills, food, car/lease, bf/gf/wives/husbands/pets, two vacations a year.
Where I went to college, your average studio runs 900 to 1300 a month... your 1-bedroom apartments are 1250 to 1900. Wherever that's the case, poverty will exist and the gap will grow exponentially. When I broke up with my girl at the time, my full-time 19 an hour job was barely enough to share a condo with a bunch of 30 something children.
The economy will improve, ebb flow, crash, improve, etc... until the end of civilization... one thing that hasn't changed is the growing gap between the middle (now the lower) and upper class.