Reply #30: They also fail to acknowledge that it is a lot harder in today's economy [View All]

[proud2BlibKansan]

to work hard and accomplish what we could just a decade ago.

I worked my way through college too. I also had student loans which were forgiven when I taught school. But when I went to college in the 70s, my tuition at a state university was only $200 a semester. And the loan program I benefited from no longer exists.

Cars were $1995 brand new (anyone else remember those Pinto commercials?) and gas was $1.00 a gallon. My parents' house payment was $106 a month. Minimum wage was under $2.00 an hour. What is it now? $5 ? Cars would now have to be $5000 and my tuition $500 a semester for minimum wage to have kept up with inflation.

Health insurance was provided by most employers for free. I worked part time at KMart and was offered health insurance. My parents' health insurance paid for 100% of most of our health care. I can still remember in the 80s when my dad was shocked that he had to pay part of the cost of his eyeglasses for the first time.

I had a baby in 1978. Our hospital bill was $1000. We had no health insurance and the hospital let us pay $30 a month until the bill was paid. I could feed my family for $25 a week in groceries and we ate well.

If anyone really needed a job, there were steel mills and auto assembly line jobs that paid reasonably well. Today in my city, there are no more steel mills and most of the auto plants have shut down.

We thought we were poor but compared to young families today, we were wealthy.

Too bad these selfish asshole conservatives don't acknowledge that it is a lot harder today to work hard and make a good life for yourself and your family.