Quote:
Originally Posted by firebug
Maybe in Calgary, Vancouver & Toronto where housing costs are some of the highest on the continent. Even still most of my peers (I'm 36) are living pretty comfortably.
All over vast swaths of the US housing is very affordable.
When our spoiled forebearers bought their homes here it wasn't the jobs are everywhere utopia we find ourselves in now.
The cost of capital right now is the cheapest it has ever been and cheaper than any of our parents or grandparents saw.
The boomers might have created a lot, but a culture of dependence isn't one of them.
Based on all objective measures of 'wellness' today's lower middle classes live better than the Upper class of our parents generation and the aristocracy of our grandparents.
There is no reason a couple cannot live an affluent life in Calgary on a starting teachers salary. Of course compared to the affluence they would like to have, and see around them, it may feel pretty grim.
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I disagree on your assessment of the cost of capital. Try buying or even renting a commercial space in a desireable area.
I also don't see how you can access the standard of living of our generation compared to our parents. The majority of the working middle class still is our parents. Remove them and the resources they provide to their children from their parents and you have a different situation.
Your example of the teachers is also a dual income. Which has become a necessity. A teacher's salary on it's own is in the 45-60k range. After taxes, you're telling me it's easy to raise a family and find affordable housing on that salary?