You have 20 gig DSL?
Oops correction, 20Mbps internet.
Thanks @FoDaddy for the catch.
t depends on what part of the country you live in and what type of job you have. 40 years ago - a teacher in NH with a spouse and 2 kids could easily buy a house in a decent neighborhood and live comfortably. Today a starting teachers salary - you either have to have a spouse that works or you live at home with your parents, or you get 3 other teachers to rent a 2 bedroom apartment.
In the mid-west you can live off your Minimum wage job. If two parents both have minimum wage jobs they could actually afford to raise a family. Here in NH and MA you will need 2-3 minimum wage jobs (EACH) just to pay the bills. Many unskilled workers are on welfare. There are very very few full-time unskilled jobs. Most are part-time. A Friends son has 3 part-time jobs at âThe Rockingham Mallâ. One is an assistant manager job. Canât afford a car because heâs under 25 and insurance is outrageous. Luckily he lives close enough to walk to work. Been working at a couple of these jobs for over 3 years and heâs still paid minimum wage. Luckily minimum wageâs have increased.
In the high-tech fieldâŠthatâs a different story. In 40 years wages have increased almost 10 fold.
Aha. I was surprised by the part where you said
but now youâve clarified that youâre paying $45/month for that internet. Thatâs more in line with expectations.
Are you trying to get me killed by my wife? 
Something thatâs also relevant in the finance picture that I didnât bring up before is that even if wages have gone up (marginally) for middle class and below, so have tuition fees. In 1965 you could get a good job where one person could support a family comfortably with a high school education. If you wanted to make a lot of money, you could go to college and oftentimes graduate with no student debt because state schools were affordable.
Now itâs considered âgoodâ if you graduate with âonlyâ $25,000 in debt, in large part because public support of state schools has receded and the students are having to pick up a lot more of the tab, and jobs which should not require college degrees, do.
So while they might sometimes be making a little bit more than they did 50 years ago, theyâre also under a much larger debt load. And if they choose not to take on that debt load and just go with a high school diploma, their job options are severely limited and therefore so is their income.
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Sorry 'bout that. The end of the first quote should have said long distance, not internet. I can see the confusion.
Yes, college is way more expensive but that is a separate discussion. The private college I attended costs more than 10 times more now. College costs far outpaced inflation from the late 70âs to now. Why is that?
State colleges are a bargain by comparison and community college is an incredible deal. Spend 2 years at CC, 2 years at State U and let your employer pay for a masters. Or join the military, learn skills and get your degree on the GI bill.
Just get a degree that is in demand.
As far as college loan debt, the blame falls right on top of the 2010 changes to the college loan program that changed from private loans to government loans. Easy money to anyone. Debt exploded after that.
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Itâs become far too easy to borrow money for college. And colleges are naturally increasing their rates to accommodate demand, and the supply of money available.
Meanwhile, the actual value of a college degree diminishes every year as more and more people get degrees.
Not everyone needs to go to college, especially if folks have to dig deeper into debt to attend. I know way too many people with $50k+ in college debt working entry level jobs.
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State colleges are less of a bargain than they used to be. I was stunned at how much my niece has to pay to go to the same school I went to. And of course they like to tack on crap like âand you must live in the dorms for the first two years, and by the way that 8x10 cell we call a dorm room will cost you as much as a 2 bedroom apartment. Oh, and youâre required to have a meal plan the first two years too, and thatâll be another 2+ grandâ
College loan debt has been a problem since before 2010. One of the problems is that kids that age tend to be not terribly good at consequence management. I graduated from college well before 2010, and I remember several of my fellow students ran a scheme where they got a student loan for their full tuition even though their parents were paying. They used the âwindfallâ to buy sports cars, which they probably regretted later when they found out they had to pay the loan back.
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Depends on what state. NH is not a great bargain. I could send my kids to an out of state school and out of state rates cheaper then in-state NH rates.
Colleges on the East and West coast are the most expensive. You can get much cheaper schools in the mid-westâŠeasily 1/3rd the rate. Private schools are the most expensive.
Most colleges are going away from academic based scholarships. Harvardâs scholarships are now based strictly on financial need. If your family earns less then $75k, then tuition is free. And many colleges offer huge discounts if you maintain a 3.0 average. Every college my kids went toâŠmore then half the kids at these colleges received some form of financial aid.
In many states, the state legislature reduced the funding to state supported colleges and universities. University administration shrugged its shoulder s and raised tuition to make up the difference. When students couldnât pay the extra price, the students were encouraged to take out student loans.
I had a 44 year career as a faculty member at a state university. I was on a committee to study ways to cut costs. Our recommendations were pretty much ignored.
To keep this automotive related, I attended a private school where money was tight. In my last year of my baccalaureate degree, the board of trustees decided that the institution should provide a car for the college president. I was at the dinner table when the issue of the purchase of the car was discussed. Some of the students at the table were upset. They thought the president earned enough to purchase his own car. I said that I thought it was the usual practice for colleges and universities to furnish a car for its president. Another student, whose father was on the board of trustees spoke up and said that the president only had one car and when he was on trips for the college, his wife was stranded without a car. The president said he was going to have to purchase a second car. The board then decided to include in his benefits package, a car for college business. I had no idea what kind of car had been purchased until I was walking into town and the president offered me a ride. The car was the lowest trim.line Chevrolet. The president was working a gearshift and there wasnât a sun visor on the passenger side. I made some sarcastic comment about the car and the president said, âI picked this car out myselfâ. He then laughed and said, âI really did choose this car. I have to raise money for this institution. I want to go looking poor. How much money would you want to give if I rolled up in a Cadillacâ?
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Itâs just WAAAAY too much trouble and honestly a waste of time to investigate anything that opposes my obviously superior conclusions on any issue. When people recognize how intelligent and well informed I am they can find me.
Some large universities had housing for Deans and tenured professors. Thatâs long gone.
@MikeInNH. Many colleges and universities still furnish housing for their presidents. Colleges and university presidents seem not to be in office as long as they were a couple of decades ago, so it is probably important to provide housing.
As a retired professor, I would not have wanted housing as part of my salary package. I would rather own a house and build up equity.
Each car also takes its own special fluids. There are 0W20 and 0W16 oils these days. Gone are the days where you ran a straight 30 weight or whatever. Then you have transmission fluids which are this way as well. You run the wrong one and it kills the transmission. CVTs are a new breed as well. Each make seems to have its own formulation of coolant that comes in a different color. We have pink, orange, green, yellow, and blue. They sell âuniversalâ coolants but I would be nervous about using them in a modern car, especially one under warranty. I almost poured blue windshield washer fluid into the coolant reservoir of my Mitsubishi because the coolant color is exactly the same!
One of the big issues with an internal laptop battery is that you cannot pull it if you spill something inside. You can usually save a laptop from liquids if you pull all sources of power and then clean/dry it out well before returning it to use. This requires a complete disassembly to do correctly. You need to pull that power cord and battery withing SECONDS, not the time it takes to remove covers, etc.
I think the big issue is that some minor part shouldnât kill a car or some other appliance or electronic. In the case of the hermetic compressor in a refrigerator, it can run for 20+ years without a thought. This is the engine or heart of that appliance and the main deal. When it breaks, this is like the engine or transmission going out in an old car. It isnât something that a $20 relay in the past would have once fixed. I donât care as much if something made to last this long and is the main component of the item in question fails. When a dashboard is so complicated it costs thousands to swap out, you have to wonder. When the laptop battery that used to slide out in seconds takes an hour or more to replace, you have to wonder.
I am not sure what to think about the workforce and pay scales these days. It seems like the economy is booming right now and you are going to get paid if you simply show up. There are too many people expecting âparticipation trophiesâ for basically doing nothing these days and that isnât how the world works.
Yes, we do live in a throwaway society. Briggs and Stratton markets an engine that never needs an oil change. Why? When it burns oil and locks up, you just roll it out to the curb and buy a new one! https://www.briggsandstratton.com/na/en_us/campaigns/just-check-and-add.html No, this isnât the Onion. Yes, you can buy them at Wal-Mart!
You folks are pretty much covering everything so I donât have anything great to add. I will say though that ditch diggers are now heavy machine operators and not minimum wage. Also street sweepers are also equipment operators the same as snow plow drivers. I havenât ever seen anyone sweeping the street by hand except after a parade where there were horses or by the fire department after an accident. (sort of road related anyway)
The only other thing is I donât think I ever saw a $7000 TV and have been quite happy with my $300 ones and so far havenât had to dispose of any. The one I bought a replacement for, I discovered the end of the antenna cable was bent and didnât make contact so just moved it to another room. Now when we bought new appliances, the dealer said they would not last as long because they were designed to be energy efficient. So I donât think the new ones are more durable and I question the overall energy savings on a machine that needs to be re-manufactured every ten years compared to 20. Still I didnât think they were as expensive as I thought they would be. So I suppose in ten years the style will be gold or green again and weâd have to replace them anyway-heaven forbid. I probably still have some gold paint around though.
Also gone are the days when odometers only had 5 digits because making it to 100,000 miles was a miracleâŠ
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I remember stopping and taking a picture of mine when it rolled over to 500,000. Then I started thinking how much fun it would be when it rolled over to 000000. Not to be though.
I agree. Multiweight detergent oils are now common and engines are running longer than ever. I have one of those engines requiring 0W20 and it doesnât burn a drop of oil that I can see between changes at 45,000 miles. This car hasnât had anything but oil changes and tires so far.
Again, a hermetic compressor that runs for a few decades without any service is probably considered an improvement for most people. Something that gets trashed or replaced over something that would have once been a simple job (laptop/phone battery or an electronic module in the dashboard) shouldnât be the case.
Yes, styles do change. We no longer have avocado or harvest gold appliances but that might make a comeback. There were cars along these lines as well. Crossovers are now all the rage for cars and stainless appliances are in.
Electronics are probably the worst. There is always a new phone coming out. We just went to 4K and now 8K TVs are coming out. Parts/labor cost more than the item if you need it repaired so these things are not economical to fix a lot of the time.
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Now common? Multi-weight oil was common 40 years ago.
I an not sure I subscribe to the theory that âthings donât last as long as they used to lastâ. My parents had a refrigerator, a 1939 Coldspot from Sears. The motor burned out after 9 years. Fortunately, the motor was separate from the compressor and a motor shop rewound the armature. My present refrigerator was purchased in 1995 and has never had a repair and works perfectly. My dad bought a 1954 Buick from a friend in 1955. Eight years later, I bought the Buick from him. I ran it to 160,000 miles. The heads and pan were never off the engine and it didnât use oil. However, it did have two clutches, a couple of generators, a few new fuel pumps and a paint job. I owned a 2006 Uplander that my son now owns. It has gone 240,000 miles. It has never had any major repairs. It has never had the alternator or fuel pump replaced. The paint is still decent and there is no rust. I had patched a lot of rust holes on the 1954 Buick by the time I sold it in 1965. My parents bought their first automatic washing machine in 1954. It had to be replaced in 1966. My washing machine was purchased in 1992 and still works. Last January, I did have to replace my 29 year old dishwasher.
I think this myth that âthings donât last as long as they used toâ was started by geezers like myself. As we get older, time passes more quickly. They donât make a year like they used to. Those previous years lasted a lot longer.
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I donât think home appliances last as long as they used to, although I agree cars last longer than they used to. The old refrigerators, washers, and driers seemed to last forever. The new ones, a circuit board or some electronic gizmo will fail and itâll cost too much to repair. Been there and done that. The harvest gold refrigerator in my shop has kept right on refrigerating the entire time! Of course thatâs all it does, though. It wonât dispense filtered water, or ice, or keep up with your shopping list, or anything fancy, and itâs probably less efficient. It just keeps beer cold and stands there and hums in all its 1970âs golden glory.
I can understand the fear of cars getting a little too tech laden. An expensive repair to some electronic dependent system like adaptive cruise, magnetic ride control, blind spot monitoring, etc. could possibly send an otherwise decent car to an early grave, I suppose. Depending on how expensive the system is to repair. Or maybe people will just override those systems if they fail on their vehicle 15 years down the road. Iâm sure there are lots of folks riding around right now with ABS lights on due to an expensive failed module, cruise no longer engaging, check engine light on but engine still running , etc.