Help me understand something....

[WestSeattle2]

I was born in 1960. As a child, my mother did not work outside the home. My father who worked at Boeing, made a decent buck but we weren't rich.

We had a nice home on 3/4 acre with views, 2 cars, nice clothes, good schools, took nice vacations, and Mom always made sure there were 3 GOOD meals a day on the table.

When my father retired, their house was paid for, they had no credit cards, cars were paid off, and they had $50,000 in the bank, and that is back in 1980. In today's dollars that would equal about $110,000.

My question is, why is this not possible today for most Americans? How many families do you know where there is only 1 breadwinner? How many of those people will have their homes paid for when they retire? How many live debt-free?

New toys are part of the answer, but not all of it. For instance, we did not have cable, cell phones, or the internet, which today add what, $150.00 per month to a typical household's bills?

Of course back then we were a protectionist nation, imposing hefty import fees on goods. We had a strong middle-class and manufacturing jobs were a dominating force. If protecting the American market helped create the standard of living that I grew up in, why in the world did our politicians sell us out?

I'm curious what your thoughts and opinions are.