This is from a year ago, it's worse today...
After watching the town hall, I did some math using an inflation calculator. The results are interesting.
Actually, they are amazing.
In 1971, I was making 20,800 a year, today that 20 grand is the equivalent of $138,994 a year. There is no way in hell my old job pays that in 2019.
My rent in 1971 was $175, a month for a two-bedroom apartment in a new complex with a pool, there was a large storage room with hookups for a washer and a dryer and had covered parking for two cars. Today the rent would be $1,152 a month and you couldn't find a comparable place for less than 2,000.
In 1974, I was making $28,000 a year in base salary, adjusted for inflation that's $184,000. I was moving up in the world, right?
In 1974, I bought a new 3 bedroom house with 2.5 baths for $39,900. 10% down, 30-year mortgage. The payment was $333 a month PITI. Today my first house would sell for $262,000. The payment would be $1,300 The problem is you can't find a house in my old neighborhood for under 650,000. My old house sold for 710,000, 5 years ago. The house is in Ashland, Massachusetts, 20 odd miles west of Boston. The payment on a 710,000 home? $2,900, not counting taxes or insurance and that's putting 142 thousand dollars down.
I got recruited for a new job in 1979, at the time with bonuses I was making 45k. My new job paid 76,000 a year, the equivalent of $268,000 today. If that job pays $150,000 today it would be a miracle.
We bought a new house for $110,000. The payment was less than $900 a month, we had two new cars, my wife didn't work, we skied most weekends in the winter, traveling to New Hampshire and Vermont and we flew to Colorado for a week of Rocky Mountain skiing. I belonged to a sailing club that filled our summers with fun on the water. I forgot, something, I was doing consulting on the side, it paid a thousand a month or in today's money, $3,500. I'd just hand my wife the check and forget about it. The consulting gig today would be worth $42,000. a year.
Our beautiful, historic house in Norwell sold for almost a million dollars a few years ago. By the way, the company I worked for, John Blair, paid all of our health insurance, gave me an expense account (I never paid for lunch), and paid my membership to the University Club. It wouldn't happen today, not even close.
What happened to that American Dream?
Inflation-adjusted pay is down for the majority of Americans, Housing costs are through the roof, transportation costs are staggering, car payments, insurance are all up. American productivity is up, but pay hasn't kept up. Families need two incomes today and childcare costs are over the moon.
Corporate profit is stratospheric, Wall Street is booming, taxes are down for the rich and have stayed about the same for the rest of us. Americans are now working for the mythical "Economy" and that "Economy" isn't working for us.
One last thing, I wanted to buy a three-story Brownstone on Marlborough Street in the Back Bay of Boston in 79, it was $10,000 more than the old 1749 house in Norwell. It had two apartments and a studio to rent, We would have had the entire 3rd floor and the roof deck. The apartments paid the mortgage and put a couple of hundred a month in our pocket. We could have gotten rid of one car and I would have walked 10 blocks to work. The girls could have gone to Brown and Nichols, a top-flight private school. Today those brownstone houses are worth between 8 and $900 a square foot. We opted for the suburban Boston house. I thought I was a smart guy, right?
One more thing, 90% of Americans make less than the Social Security cap of $128,000 a year. That top 10% thing is real, isn't it?
In 1971, I was making 20,800 a year, today that 20 grand is the equivalent of $138,994 a year. There is no way in hell my old job pays that in 2019.
My rent in 1971 was $175, a month for a two-bedroom apartment in a new complex with a pool, there was a large storage room with hookups for a washer and a dryer and had covered parking for two cars. Today the rent would be $1,152 a month and you couldn't find a comparable place for less than 2,000.
In 1974, I was making $28,000 a year in base salary, adjusted for inflation that's $184,000. I was moving up in the world, right?
In 1974, I bought a new 3 bedroom house with 2.5 baths for $39,900. 10% down, 30-year mortgage. The payment was $333 a month PITI. Today my first house would sell for $262,000. The payment would be $1,300 The problem is you can't find a house in my old neighborhood for under 650,000. My old house sold for 710,000, 5 years ago. The house is in Ashland, Massachusetts, 20 odd miles west of Boston. The payment on a 710,000 home? $2,900, not counting taxes or insurance and that's putting 142 thousand dollars down.
I got recruited for a new job in 1979, at the time with bonuses I was making 45k. My new job paid 76,000 a year, the equivalent of $268,000 today. If that job pays $150,000 today it would be a miracle.
We bought a new house for $110,000. The payment was less than $900 a month, we had two new cars, my wife didn't work, we skied most weekends in the winter, traveling to New Hampshire and Vermont and we flew to Colorado for a week of Rocky Mountain skiing. I belonged to a sailing club that filled our summers with fun on the water. I forgot, something, I was doing consulting on the side, it paid a thousand a month or in today's money, $3,500. I'd just hand my wife the check and forget about it. The consulting gig today would be worth $42,000. a year.
Our beautiful, historic house in Norwell sold for almost a million dollars a few years ago. By the way, the company I worked for, John Blair, paid all of our health insurance, gave me an expense account (I never paid for lunch), and paid my membership to the University Club. It wouldn't happen today, not even close.
What happened to that American Dream?
Inflation-adjusted pay is down for the majority of Americans, Housing costs are through the roof, transportation costs are staggering, car payments, insurance are all up. American productivity is up, but pay hasn't kept up. Families need two incomes today and childcare costs are over the moon.
Corporate profit is stratospheric, Wall Street is booming, taxes are down for the rich and have stayed about the same for the rest of us. Americans are now working for the mythical "Economy" and that "Economy" isn't working for us.
One last thing, I wanted to buy a three-story Brownstone on Marlborough Street in the Back Bay of Boston in 79, it was $10,000 more than the old 1749 house in Norwell. It had two apartments and a studio to rent, We would have had the entire 3rd floor and the roof deck. The apartments paid the mortgage and put a couple of hundred a month in our pocket. We could have gotten rid of one car and I would have walked 10 blocks to work. The girls could have gone to Brown and Nichols, a top-flight private school. Today those brownstone houses are worth between 8 and $900 a square foot. We opted for the suburban Boston house. I thought I was a smart guy, right?
One more thing, 90% of Americans make less than the Social Security cap of $128,000 a year. That top 10% thing is real, isn't it?
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