You know, has middle class person/family been hurt by job loses, taxes and immigration, the need for a two family income, etc.

Or has technology, bigger homes, more people living farther from crowded cities etc. made life better?

I tend to feel things have gotten better, but I bet someone could make the opposite argument.

I had no income in 1970. I had no house in 1970. I had no car in 1970. I had no phone in 1970.

Today, I have a job, house, and car. I feel I'm better off.

Other things I didn't have in 1970: my own room, brothers and sisters, a radio, clothing.

Sometime in late 1970, I had a heartbeat.

All depens on how the media spins things.

I was born in 1984, but pay attention (haha). And I would say no, Americans, largely because of the depletion of industrial/manufacturing jobs are not as well off as they were pre-Reagan. Granted, labor jobs aren't ideal jobs, but back then they were steady, paid well enough, and required skill. not to mention they provided pride and large scale employment to folks wtihout a college education.

Would the country at large benefit from universal college attendance? may be, but that's so incredibly unrealistic it's hard to even fathom. So, without the opportunities afforded by a college diploma, the American middle class is left with very very very few choices. I am in telecom sales in Chicago and do a lot of work out in the sub-urbs for industrial businesses and have witnessed first-hand accounts from business owners and from the common worker alike that the pressures applied to the American industrial force by the much much cheaper global arena are OVERWHELMING.

Couple that with the idle minimum wage and we're left with people just trying to makes ends meet.

Why did you pick 1970?

In 2007, i can access porn and some type of NFL related programming 24/7 with a few button punches.

Could you do that in 1970? I dont think so. You tell me which is better.

Free Love and a chance to go to Vietnam for free too.

True, Vietnam is more expensive these days. But, medicine is better to treat the Free Love ailments.

I guess because its just over a generation ago, but no real reason. Yes, I think times are harder for the high school graduate to get ahead in the world.

I 2007, I can effortlessly argue for months with a Hamburger U grad about math. In 1970, it took significant effort.


Maybe it's a wash.

Maybe it ought to be harder for the high school graduate to get ahead. Few, if any, society's will reach thier full potential by relying on a minimal education expectation for the majority of its citizens. As was stated in a previous post, universal college education may be difficult. Encouraging people to attain that college eductaion by having it be hard to get ahead without would probably benefit our society in the long run.

Favorite Post Ever.

I take back my Ram-Anus comment.

Yes. People by and large live longer, healthier lives. The air is cleaner. The water is cleaner. We have hundreds of media outlets to divert our attention. We have computers that can do what we want them to (Imagine a message board based on direct-impact typewriters). We no longer live under the threat of MAD. Today, heart disease isn't a death sentence. Fewer people smoke. We have more variety in our food choices now than at any other time in recorded human history. The list could go on and on.

Don't listen when some idiot Luddite eco-freak tells you we're worse off, and that the past is some sort of "golden age". It wasn't. The past sucked. It was filled with disease, war, destitution, famine, illiteracy rampant poverty and ignorance.

For middle America, I feel it's worse and I blame Madison Ave.

I think it's better - but there's a long way to go.

in 1970 computers were the size of a large room and the internet was for research
in 2007 computers are in most folks homes and the internet...is for porn

If you would have seen the friggin' shirts I was wearing in 1970 you would know without question which era is better.

Yeah, no Shiit!!!


Polyester, Baby!!!

Good Lord: we agree.

I think Joe's wife logs in as him on occasion.

Odd. Usually Joe doesn't even agree with himself.

God, I had one that was green, orange and brown and basically looked like all the members of PETA and Greenpeace had a joint luncheon, got in a big circle and all threw up in the middle.

Hell if I know, I wasn't born yet.

I would argue that life itself is better due to technological advancement, but whether the Average American is better off depends on semantics which haven't been defined in the original post.

See, BF. You don't know sh-- about what I think. As far as science's ability to resolve the basic issues confronting humanity, I'm a optimist.

Groovy

Bet you had a perm too.

What's your sign, man? I once knew this cat with the same shirt, man. But not so much spew, much lighter on the spew.

Tough question. I think the top 3rd of society is much, much better off. The rest (bottom 2/3) are much much worse off.

Example: My dad had three kids, bought brand new cars, had boats, motorcycles, sent three kids to college etc etc. Had a 1500 square foot house in 1977. He's also built 4 new homes and has a place in Florida.

My brother: Moved his three kids and wife out of their 862 square foot house in 2005 after living there for 10 years. Keeps getting laid off. Always behind on his bills. Has terrible credit. Can't buy anything extra.

Just like everything else... The game gets bigger, but that doesn't mean it is better...

My mother's aunt survived ovarian cancer in 1970 that my mother couldn't in 1999... Diagnosed at the same stage... Then again, knowing the family history and applying it during the 20 years since my mother's aunt's diagnosis... My mother might be living today...

I know this is an ass backwards statement... And just part of the "small tragedy" within the big picture...

I agree...

But... The one room school house were so MUCH better then!... At least in Alaska!

I made my First Holy Communion in a green leisure suite with white stitching!...

Boy, in 1976... Quite some dude I was!

Oh... One more annoying post:

"Too many irons in the fire nowadays than 1970."

And the economic establishment wants it that way... Screw up managing those irons, the fault lays squarely on you... And rightly so.

Time to contract the game?

Dude, an edit button doth exist.

Or a SabreSpace type feature...