Reply #2: This book is on order at my local library and I've requested it.

[raccoon]

One reason that it take two incomes to support a middle-class lifestyle that used to require one is that the bar has been raised for what is considered a middle-class lifestyle. Houses built in recent years are, on average, MUCH larger than the average house of a few decades ago. People have more vehicles per family. People have more "stuff" and expect more stuff. Instead of wearing hand-me-downs from siblings or cousins, kids want brand-name clothes. Many high school students have cars nowadays; when I was in high school, that was rare. Kids go to their high school proms in rented limos. That was unheard of decades ago.

Now, I realize that medical care, education, and housing, have gone up WAY more than the official inflation stats. Those higher costs are one reason for the two incomes, but they're not the whole story.