It's true small numbers count especially when multiplied. Likewise starting out at the bottom and advancing upward through diligence and hard work pays off. Often ignored in the popular doom-and-gloom narrative that "the rising tide has ended" is the value of a two-adult household over single. My family background is similar to yours with two parents who lived in an apartment until they were expecting their third kid, and didn't acquire a second car until with four kids the oldest was middle school age. None of my kids have advanced degrees, although each with a partner and college degree and good work ethic all three are currently doing well and advancing. Two of them have kids of their own and all enjoy the benefits of unprecedented technology and safety and medical care. The greatest challenge to their future besides crime is our still-growing national debt. While we agree excessive executive compensation is way out of line (and should be fixed), that's largely a red herring that plays on feelings of class envy more than reality when looking at the company balance sheet. Regarding the declining marriage rate and so much divisiveness/dysfunction I wonder if we'd all be better off if we were more interested in fixing problems than arguing about gender, climate catastrophe, vaccines, and identitarian issues. And if our schools did a better job of teaching academic content (including economics and household budgeting) rather than gender affirmation and critical race theory. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAopASkEk9E&t=2230s
I explicitly mentioned increasing the number of workers per household was a way to continue to increase household income, and also upskilling proving examples from my own life. But the fact is some 44% of the labor force performed these low-wage jobs whose wages used to rise along with economic growth, but no longer do. Someone has to do these jobs, why should those who do them be consigned to a declining relative standard of living for doing them?
Seems to me that those responsible for economic management have done a poor job over the past 50 years.
It's true small numbers count especially when multiplied. Likewise starting out at the bottom and advancing upward through diligence and hard work pays off. Often ignored in the popular doom-and-gloom narrative that "the rising tide has ended" is the value of a two-adult household over single. My family background is similar to yours with two parents who lived in an apartment until they were expecting their third kid, and didn't acquire a second car until with four kids the oldest was middle school age. None of my kids have advanced degrees, although each with a partner and college degree and good work ethic all three are currently doing well and advancing. Two of them have kids of their own and all enjoy the benefits of unprecedented technology and safety and medical care. The greatest challenge to their future besides crime is our still-growing national debt. While we agree excessive executive compensation is way out of line (and should be fixed), that's largely a red herring that plays on feelings of class envy more than reality when looking at the company balance sheet. Regarding the declining marriage rate and so much divisiveness/dysfunction I wonder if we'd all be better off if we were more interested in fixing problems than arguing about gender, climate catastrophe, vaccines, and identitarian issues. And if our schools did a better job of teaching academic content (including economics and household budgeting) rather than gender affirmation and critical race theory. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAopASkEk9E&t=2230s
I explicitly mentioned increasing the number of workers per household was a way to continue to increase household income, and also upskilling proving examples from my own life. But the fact is some 44% of the labor force performed these low-wage jobs whose wages used to rise along with economic growth, but no longer do. Someone has to do these jobs, why should those who do them be consigned to a declining relative standard of living for doing them?
Seems to me that those responsible for economic management have done a poor job over the past 50 years.