The median per capita income in 1970 was......$3,893.00 per year

[SoCalDem]

People bought houses...bought new cars.. Moms could afford to stay home with the kids..they ate out in restaurants..they went to the movies.. they bought school clothes... they took vacations...employers had pension plans for their workers..most jobs were full time WITH insurance..kids went to college...


What was different?? The "investor class" had not yet come into being in a big way?? Businesses actually viewed their employees as an asset..not a liability.. Employers recycled a good bit of the money they earned, back into their companies..


http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0854972.html

The median house (new) cost $26,400.00...(used) 23,000.00
The median rental unit rented for $168.00 a month

http://www.huduser.org/periodicals/ushmc/summer97/histdat2.html#tbl4_11


minimum wage was: $1.60 per hour

http://www.adaction.org/mwbook.html

[mhr]

1. Capital Is Free To Roam The Globe, Workers Cannot

When anyone proposes free trade without restrictions on capital or without provisions that protect workers, they are nothing but shills selling out workers, American or otherwise.

These shills, Greenspan, Mankiw, Etc. (Bush is too stupid to understand), claim that unbridled free trade is good. However, it is evident to all that good only means good for corporations.

The corporations are taking advantage of labor arbitrage because they can. They know that workers are a fixed plant asset i.e. tied to a particular country through immigration laws, impossible to hurdle financial restrictions preventing relocation, and familial and societal ties to home and country.

And they don't care! Their capital can fly across the globe at near light-speed to be planted temporarily in this country or the next. When the local labor weeds become too pesky to control, the capital is uprooted and replanted again with a more pliant variety of labor plant.

All the while, the refuse and carnage of destroyed human hope is left to pick up the pieces of lost dreams and opportunities.

The solution, Tax the capitalists and corporatists into submission.

Have you "taxed a capitalist today?" should become the rallying cry.

Nothing less than FEAR will bring these rogue economic elements into line. Nothing less than an outright NO will prevent these leeches from draining each and every worker, blue collar, white collar, or otherwise, completely dry.

We are witnessing a new form of feudalism spawn right before our eyes and modern democracies will be destroyed unless these people are stopped and stopped now!

Always Remember:

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.

Thomas Jefferson
Founding Father Of The United States of America

[arrogantatheist1000]

10. great quote!

I have been saying that sometimes things get to the point where there is no option but to fight.

In canada it is even worse for standard of living. 20 years ago workers made 20$ an hour doing manual labour right out of high school.

Today workers make 7$ an hour doing manual labour with less benefits. Not to mention inflation has made that 7$ into more like 2-3$ in 1980 dollars.

Where as in america people can't afford to have the wife stay at home and raise the children anymore, in canada we dont' have enough money to have the kids in the first place. VERY few canadians under 30 have children at all. Its the same in europe when I have gone there. People aren't having children because there is 0 money.

I have no kids and no dependants. I work full time. I can't even afford a small apartment or a car.

I've been saying our economy was going to collapse for some time in the west because of buerocracy out of control and ponzie scheme benefits, but in honesty I think we already essentialy have.

I look at the people in the soviet union pre collapse and they lived about how I live. Maybe better. America is slightly better then canada, many of my american friends are starting up families but to pay for the kids both parents have to work full time jobs, and have an education.

Sometimes one spouse even needs to take a second job. Or at least have a job with a ton of overtime. They rarely get to see the children and when they do they are dead tired. Meanwhile twenty five years ago my father bought a car, put a downpayment on a house and started a family with 3 kids, and my mom stayed at home. He did all of this on a starter job out of highschool.

And at the time he was below average wage for western canada. Its really sad to me how far we've fallen. Hell I see people that are supposedly dirt poor in Egypt, having 5 kids by the time they are mid 20's. And they are planning more.

Even in a good job here in canada people can't support 1 child, let alone 5. In an average job here we can't even afford a small apartment or a car. We are not having kids because we are dirt poor compared to the rest of the world.

And yes we have a few ultra billionares, but the average person in north america imo is poorer then the average egyptian. I know it sounds ludicris, but when you actualy look at the purchasing parity they surpass us. Young men in egypt can buy a home for their family. They have a car for their family. The wife stays at home, and they have money to easily pay for good food for all of their growing family. So far in my high school graduation class of 6 years ago, only one person out of 250 has had a child. That is fucking sad bottom line.

And its not just the 'sexual' revolution, as I have argued before and am arguing here it is the collapse in living standard in our countries.

And yes our government tells us each year how much richer we are, and how much better life is. Because they want votes. But when people think back they say hmmm I worked half as much as I do now, and I had way more money, thats strange. I must be an odd case. But they aren't odd cases we really have collapsed and our government is lying to us.

[Qanisqineq]

2. *gulp*

I just figured it out and my yearly rent is almost twice that amount. And I sure as hell don't live in a castle. I live in a crappy neighborhood.

[OneTwentyoNine]

3. For some minimum wage wasn't even that high...

http://www.dol.gov/esa/minwage/chart.htm


Looking at the chart it depended on what you did. I worked at a car wash when I was in high school. That was 70-71 and I got paid 1.45 per hour. We sold gas there but I guess it technically wasn't a service station.

Gee,look at where the minimum wage increases stopped dead after Carter got one last raise in before he left office. I didn't think they ever increased under Bush but I guess there was to much pressure after 9 YEARS for an increase.

David

[SoCalDem]

4. And waitresses still made about 50 cents an hour back then

because of the tips they made..

Isn't it pathetic, that people did ok on so little money back then, and they make 50 times that now, and are broke ??

[SammyWinstonJack]

12. I worked at a Winchell's Donut shop

in Victorville, Ca after H.S. in '71. I made $1.65 per hour and didn't get paid overtime.

[SoCalDem]

13. Were you as "broke" as you are today??

I have this feeling that ALL of the so-called figures we get are manipulated to death.. They say that inflation is practically nothing, but let me tell you... It feels JUST like it did when inflation was 12% & up..

Every trip to the store these days, brings nasty surprises, but they are shifty now.. A "pound" of coffee only goes up a few cents, but now a pound of coffee is 11 oz.. Canned vegetables have way more "packing liquid" than before.. Cereal boxes are bigger, but the oz weight is less..

Tiny little baby outfits are $25.00..

They don't like to call it inflation, but that's what it is..


Every try to understand a phoone bill or electric bill?? The rates may not be very much higher, but now there are "punishment tiers" and a page and a half of "fees" and "add-on charges"..


It's no wonder that people are confused.. they played by the rules, but every tie they turn around, the rules have changed..:(

[rasputin1952]

19. You might add that the QUALITY has diminished as well...

Many articles no longer produced in this country, are pretty shabby, to put it nicely. You might as well also add that prices have NOT declined w/all of the garbage about keeping the wages down. In fact, they have risen.

So, for all of the corporate disposition that this is 'good' for the economy, we have sold our heritage as well as our job base to the highest bidder.

Every time we purchase something made in China,(or anywhere else), we are helping that nation to subjugate their people. Slaves are slaves, whether they are paid a pittance or not.

Soon, there will be a new awakening of the workers, (no, I am not a Communist), and people will revolt...worldwide. Those who have profited to such an extent that their profits seem obscene, will be driven from the halls of power, and the 'free market' will then again be free.

O8)

[Pobeka]

20. The Reagan administration re-defined inflation criteria.

And it magically went down. American corporations were instantly able to lower their annual pay raises to employees on the premise that the base rate for raises was to keep up with inflation.

But reality is not magic. You can't change what the average person has to buy. Milk, food, housing, electricity, transporation, all the things we need to live have not changed, only what was used in the inflation calculation.

[muriel_volestrangler]

25. You can't change it, but ...

... it does change. People's habits do change (for instance, they may drink less milk, or live further away from their jobs). You should take this into account when you calculate inflation.

This appears to be the current weighting for the Consumer Price Index, and this an older one (the pre-Reagan one?) Which one do you prefer? why?

[arrogantatheist1000]

33. I agree the inflation number is made up to make politicians look good

I agree socaldem. The government tells us that there is no inflation, but why then is everything still increasing in price per year at 20% or so.

My rent was 500$ a few years ago, now its 630$. And it is rising every few months.

Yet my government said we are in deflation??? You are right to that the quantity you get is going down. Like you buy things and are like hmm where is the meat? Five years ago a sub sandwich was 4-5 dollars and PACKED with meat. Now it is 9$ and only three very small strips of bacon. So in five years I would say a 400% rise in the price. Seriously the meat is what costs money and they maybe have 15% of what it used to have.

Even 400% in 5 years for some foods is a conservative guess.

I believe inflation since 1970 has been at least 20 times. A car in 1970 was 1500-2500$ canadian. Now a car is 30000-50000% canadian. A chocolate bar that had more nuts in it then today's and was larger was a nickel. Now it is 1.00$. A pop and pizza was 25 cents, now its 5 dollars.

Everywhere you look you see at least a 20 times increase in price.

So average wage in 1970 of 3,800$ = about 76,000$ in todays economy. Average wage today is 26,000$. So about a third as much. That explains why both parents are working full time and still not able to do the things they did back in 1970.

In canada it is way worse, in 1970 estimates put the average wage at close to 5,500$ a year. We were very wealthy. so about 110,00$ a year in todays wages. Today the average wage per year is about 18,000$ a year.

That is why families back in the 1970's were having three kids on one income. Living in a nice neighbourhood. Had two cars. The dad went fishing every weekend on his large boat. Back in the 1980's my dad and I used to go fishing and loved it. We tried to start up again, but we couldn't afford even the cheap rods let alone all the bait and lures. Then permits per fish, then gasoline for boat and driving up. We never used to think about those things, the costs were so small compared to the wages. Now only the wealthy can fish. My dad used to have multiple fishing rods, a boat, a truck to move it. Back then he was a foreman over about 8 people. Now he manages 150 people, and his income has plummeted in real dollars.

In 1980 a worker made 20$ out of high school an hour, and there was help wanted signs everywhere. Now kids out of high school are very lucky if they can get into a 7$ an hour job. People are living with their parents until their 30's because the economy has collapsed to the point where only the wealthy or old can afford even marginal housing.

Of course our politicians every year tell us what an amazing job they are doing, and how well the economy is growing. But when you actualy sit there and say wait a minute. You see a collasal drop in the standard of living.

Does anyone expect a government to come out and say yes we screwed up and made you poorer? No they all come out saying how hugely they made the economy grow. How amazing they are.

America claims to have 100 times the income of the average egyptian. Yet the average egyptian family a young man of early 20's can put a down payment on a home, he can buy food for his growing family of 5 or more. His wife stays at home. He doesn't work huge overtime.

Its hard to come to terms with this, but folks we've been fed a load of BULLSHIT for the last 30 years. Our economy has terribly collapsed. Much like the soviet union, soviet citizens were told year after year how much wealthier they were then their ancestors. The citizens believed it until they LITERALLY couldn't afford milk and bread to feed their tiny families. In retrospec it was obvious that the soviet economy had long been in decline. I say the EXACT same thing is going on here in north america and in europe as well.

[OneTwentyoNine]

5. And even in 2004,look at State minimum wages-Kansas/Oklahoma

http://www.dol.gov/esa/minwage/america.htm


Unbelievable what a State like ours can STILL do to workers. Hell,people in the great depression would have more spendable income that what they get off of State minimum wage here in Kansas.

David

[rasputin1952]

6. Hmmmm....I was in uniform at the time and I got ...

$102 a month in base pay during a part of '70.

It went up, a little, and I didn't have to buy clothes, pay for my food, or worry too much about transportation. there were additions to that amt, but I never figured I'd get rich in the Army.

I have to cross my eyes now, when I see my daughter was in the Navy and got pretty good pay and benefits, but still had a hard time pulling everything together.

After I got out, I was a mason apprentice for $8 an hour, and beer was still a quarter, I was flush! But my boss was an alcoholic, and died in his car. So much for that job. Went back into the Army and was surprised at how much it changed in just a couple of years.

I can still remember when a slice of pizza and a coke cost a quarter, and a good sized Hershey bar (w/the inevitable 6 almonds), cost a nickel.

Like you say, this was before the "investor class" took over. So where are the investors now? Sitting behind desks making piles of cash at the expense of the common man an woman, who sweat and bleed to ensure that these of the "new nobility" get more than, (IMO), are worth.

I used to be at odds w/my dad who said that everyone should learn how to wield a shovel, and have callouses on their hands before they talked about how good it is. He was a lawyer, and he believed that!

As clearly as yesterday, I can recall him telling me as he lay dying, "Question Authority". I have lived by those words for the vast majority of the years I've been plodding around on this earth, perhaps, I should question a little louder...in fact, I think I will.

O8)

[Bonhomme Richard]

7. Does anyone know where I can find statistics about........

what percentage corporations have payed in taxes to the federal govt? I am convinced that from the 50's until now there has been a steady decline in corp. contributions to the federal govt coffers and a corresponding increase in the burden the taxpayer plays. We have picked up the slack with the trade off being new and better jobs.
You can bet that the decline in real earnings by the average person relates directly to that over the past four decades.

Just found something:
According to a recent report by the Congressional Budget Office, corporate income taxes fell from $207 billion to $132 billion in just three years, with an 11 percent reduction just last year. Corporate taxes now account for less than 8 percent of all federal revenue collected, down from a high of 28 percent in 1950.

It's no wonder our take home can't keep up.

[rasputin1952]

8. In Molly Ivins' book, "Bushwhacked",

she notes briefly that corp's have had inneumerable breaks over the last several years. I will research more later, but to my recollection, she stated that many of the major corporations paid NOTHING in fed taxes, yet in several cases received Hundreds of millions in returns.

Nice scam.

O8)


edited: spelling

[BeFree]

9. Big Boys go Tax Free

While the little guys get hammered with +40% of their income going to taxes.

The hard working little guys have 20 to 30 percent of their wages removed from their hands every paycheck, but the white collar investor class is allowed to finagle their way out of paying any tax whatsoever. That's why they are so rich! It doesn't come from working hard, it comes from screwing the hard-working!

America! Wake up and smell the trickle down. Refuse to contribute to the corrupt system that rewards the crooks and punishes the honest. Refuse to enable those who will make slaves of us all!

[rasputin1952]

11. Most revolutions are based on economics, not ideology...

All of the hoopla about nationalism, is just that, hoopla.

All of these 'fakeriots', with offshore PO Box co's are some of the most flagrant thieves of our national treasury. they justify their behavior in any one of a myriad of ways, but the worst, is "trickle down" economics...no one with that amt of money invests in workers, they invest to ensure more riches for themselves.

O8)

[BeFree]

16. Yep...

That's why they are turning away from America, and turning their backs on the American worker. They'd rather invest in a machine or invest in the cheapest slaves they can get, to hell with their own American family.

- Money is their god and religion.

[F.Gordon]

15. Here.........

In 1973 Corporate Tax accounted for 16.4% of total tax revenue. In 2002 it accounted for 7.5%. A drop of 54.3%,

In 1973 Individual Tax accounted for 52.6% of total tax revenue. In 2002 it accounted for 51.5%. A drop of 2.1%.

In 1973 Estate (the “DEATH”) Tax accounted for 1.8% of total revenue. In 2002 it accounted for 1.2%. A drop of 33.3%

So, where has the difference been made up. In Employment Tax (Social Security, Medicare, FUTA). In 1973 it accounted for 21.9% of total tax revenue and in 2002 it accounted for 34.1%. An increase of 55.8%.

There is no such thing as a “tax cut”. You can pay Peter or you can pay Paul, but you will pay someone.

Link? Yea, I got your friggin’ link………

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/02db07co.xls

[cryofan]

18. not just corporations, but the income tax is FAR LESS progressive

back in the early 70s, people who made a lot of money paid a lot of taxes, percentage-wise. For example, the top tax rate was at least 70% back then; now it is about 39% or so. THat is the main reason why it is harder now than it was then. Also, mass immigration has increased the supply of labor relative to the demand. Am I the only one who remembers when Help Wanted signs could be found on most businesses?

[myopic4141]

31. Go to

http://www.census.gov/statab/www/

[SoCalDem]

14. I forgot to include this..People actually had savings accounts, too.

I worked at a bank in the early 70's and almost every customer had a savings account and a Christmas club account.. People nowadays run out of money before they run out of month..people rarely save:(

[Jim__]

17. With respect to median income, I believe what has changed ...

is the value of money. On the page that your first link pointed to, there is a table of Median Income by Sex and Race, 1947–1998, and for all races, here is the median income in constant 1998 dollars:

Year Male Female
1970 26,325 8,829
1998 $26,492 $14,430

So, in constant dollars, the median didn't change much (for males anyway, it changed rather dramatically for females). Hopefully, this link will take you to the table "http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0104696.html"

The only table where I could find the $ 3,893 was the Per Capita Personal Income:

Year Income
1970 $3,893
2002 30,941

Again, the link "http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0104547.html"

My guess is that this table is not in constant dollars, and so, a lot of what has changed is the value of money. Also, Per Capita Income is just total GDP divided by total number of people - its an average, the median is the income at the 50th percentile.

What has changed dramatically over those years is distribution of income "http://www.925iwish.com/distribution.html"

[Pobeka]

21. This assumes the rate of inflation is correct.

If it was correct (higher), you'd see that in constant dollars the median incomes are making less now than in 1970...

[Jim__]

22. It's actually pretty depressing that median income has remained

constant over those 28 years while real GDP has increased. The total size of the pie has increased significantly, but workers making median income are getting exactly the same size slice that they were getting in 1970. Workers are not seeing any benefit from their increased productivity over those years. That's pathetic.

You're right that the measure of median income assumes that we are measuring inflation correctly, but as to measuring the actual rate of inflation - I think it's an extremely difficult task.

[starroute]

23. Not just productivity -- people are working more hours

I don't have the numbers at my fingertips, but I saw something a couple of days ago saying that the average American now works four more weeks per year than in whatever the basepoint year was.

And I've also seen things saying that not only do Americans now receive less vacation time, but many of them are afraid to take all of what they get.

People are being squeezed in every direction possible, and very little of it is showing up in the statistics.

[newyawker99]

26. Hi Jim__

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Jim__]

29. Thanks newyawker - good to be here - n/t

[MikeGalos]

24. If you really want to see the numbers

The median household income in 1956 was $4,000.

Household income at the time was virtually the same as individual worker income since single worker households were almost universal.

The minimum wage was $1.00

That means that a person working a full-time minimum wage job made half of the median household income.

Today, a two income family with both working full-time minimum wage jobs make about 2/3rds as much as one full-time minimum wage worker did back then.

To have the minimum wage back to where it was during the Eisenhower Administration we'd have to have it at roughly $13.75/hr.

[Sugarbleus]

34. Yep, I remember those times..

As a married couple with only hubby working, we paid $75 a month on rent of our first apartment. Eventually, hubby got a higher paying job with PGE so we paid a wee bit more for a nicer rental. I did not work. We bought a car, went camping, went to concerts for like $5 everything was cheap. That was about 1970. Just a few years earlier, there were new 3 bedroom homes going for $10,000; at $50,000 one could purchase a spectacular home in a posh district. Hubby earned, in the '70's $8,000 a year.
A person could, feasably work a low wage job(waitress, burger flipper etc) and still afford an apartment!

My first job at 17 was in a cookie factory in Ohio; it paid a whooping $1.79 ph. That was a lot at the time.

In the late 50's and early 60's my parents could go into Safeway grocery and come out with several bags of groceries for about $25. Today, that same amount of groceries costs me approx. $140

It's ASTOUNDING..................... where's the ceiling?

[JasonDeter]

27. And then America elected an actor.

Ronald Reagan was the decline in American empire.

[never cry wolf]

28. I think partially there are more things to spend on as well

Back in 1970 our house had one TV, one car, one phone and one record player. We went out to eat once a month at best (except friday night pizza), vacations were strictly by car, kids rode their bikes instead of getting a ride. There were no game cubes, VCR's, DVD's, laptops, cell phones, car for each kid, no cable, no CD's, etc.

There is alot more to spend money on these days, including credit card interest on all the goodies. This certainly does not account for everything nor even most, but I do think it's a contributing factor.

[SoCalDem]

30. Ask yourself.."Why do we "need" all these things now"?

The corporations TELL us we need them. There was a time when a small grocery store had everything a family needed..

We have turned into puppets in a span of 35-40 years..

Human needs have not changed...our perception of what we need HAS changed..

I know we can never really "go back", but if things keep going the way they are ...we may be forced back :(

[rman]

32. i don't think people now spend on luxury instead of healthcare

if they can afford only one or the other. besides, it's hard to compare these since a TV is a one-time investment of a few $100, while healthcare and rent are 'running' costs.
I don't think it is very likely that todays standard of living is lower then in the 70's because people now spend on additional luxuries intead of essentials.