1960 – Average wage: $2.32/hr, $402/month .. Minimum: $1/hr, $173/m .. Poverty: $0.71/hr, $123/m
1970 – A: $4.75/hr, $823/m .. M: $1.45/hr, $251/m .. P: $0.93/hr, $161/m
1980 – A: $10.90/hr, $1,889/m .. M: $3.10/hr, $537/m .. P: $4.04/hr, $700/m
1990 – A: $24.13/hr, $4,182/m .. M: $3.80/hr, $648/m .. P: $6.69/hr, $1,159/m
2000 – A: $25.98/hr, $4,503/m .. M: $5.16/hr, $894/m .. P: $8.19/hr, $1,419/m
2010 – A: $26.69/hr, $4,626/m .. M: $7.25/hr, $1,256/m.. P: $10.72/hr, $1,858/m
2020 – A: $27.07/hr, $4,692/m .. M: $7.25/hr, $1,256/m .. P: $12.59/hr, $2,182/m
2022 – A: $25.71/hr, $4,456/m .. M: $7.25/hr, $1,256/m .. P: $13.34/hr, $2,317/m
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These numbers are for a family of 4, which is the most common family size in the USA. 3.4 people to be exact.
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The following are with a 0% down-payment, 30yr fixed loan. Does not include insurance.
1960 – Average price of a home: $11,900. Average interest 7%. Average property tax 3%. = $123/month.
1970 – $17,000. Interest: 8.5%. Tax: 3.5% = $181/m
1980 – $47,200. Interest: 12.96%. Tax: 2.9% = $579/m
1990 – $79,190. Interest: 10.13%. Tax: 3.2% = $914/m
2000 – $119,600. Interest: 8.05%. Tax: 3.1% = $1,191/m
2010 – $221,800. Interest: 4.7%. Tax: 2.7% = $1,649/m
2020 – $391,900. Interest: 3.72%. Tax: 2.3% = $2,461/m
2022 – $408,100. Interest: 4.68%. Tax: 1.07% = $2,690/m
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Your mortgage shouldn't be more than 30% of your monthly income. So what should our average mortgage be at the current 2022 average wage? $1,336…. we're doubling that.
What should our average wage be to make $2,690/m that 30% value? $8,966/m, $107,592/year, $51.72/hour. You can laugh/cry, I did. What else is there to do but to laugh at this?
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I will not take lectures from people who have no idea what it's like to try to start off in today's world. You do not have a single idea of what it's like. Even if you lived on minimum wage in the 70s, you made enough to live. If you made double the minimum you were considered successful. If you made double the minimum you could support a family of 4 on that ONE income.
If we make double the minimum today we are a smidgen above poverty. If we make the minimum we cannot survive on our own, it is impossible. There isn't a single place in the US you can go to where you can support yourself on minimum wage, let alone a family.
You also didn't have to pay for health insurance. It wasn't law until Obama made it. And once it became law, it turned into a second mortgage payment. And now we have outrageous deductibles to meet while still paying our premium.
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You know what makes it even worse… YOU made these wages. YOU got successful and then got greedy. You currently hold the boss seats in big corporations. You currently run the government. You own the stock market. You. My generation is still living at home making $12/hr trying to pay for a college degree you convinced us we needed. Or they're working 60hr+ weeks at $20/hr just to be comfortable, which still only $62k/year and only amounts to 40% of what our wage should be to keep the average mortgage price at 30% of our income.
And you want to sit there and lecture me on my generations poor work ethic?
What's the incentive? What is there for me to benefit from?
Raising the minimum wage clearly doesn't work either. Look at that huge jump from 1970 to 1980… and look at the cost of living from the 70s to the 80s…. you got greedy and raised your prices so you could still make record profits instead of ensuring your staff were taken care of.
You can't find workers? It's probably a you problem. My generation is done. We aren't giving you our lives. We aren't putting up with the abuse. We want to live like you did. We want to be able to afford a week long vacation and not struggle afterwards for the next 6months just trying to get even again.
You need to wake up and smell the shitty roses you left us with. Life is NOT the same and it is NOT as easy for us as it was for you.