So maths time…
If that cart is a weeks of groceries, it takes 1250 weeks of groceries to buy a house in 1980.
According to a 2024 USA today article the average family with kids spends $331 per week on groceries.
If the groceries per house ratio stayed the same, a house would be $413,750 in 2024.
The U.S. median home price was $412,000 in September 2023, according to Redfin.
I dunno seems pretty proportionate.
That’s not the issue.
Average annual household income in the US in 1980 was $20,020- 42% of a house (average cost of a house in the US in 1980 was actually $47K).
https://www.census.gov/library/publications/1982/demo/p60-132.html
Average annual household income in the US in 2022 was $74,580- or 18% of a $412K house.
https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2023/demo/p60-279.html
And “household income” definition also changed: at the time the most common was that only the man of the household was working. So I’d say we are down to a quarter of what was earned then.
Anybody else find it funny that her cart is just full of junk? No fresh fruit or vegetables to be seen. Some things never change in America.
Therenwas a time in the mid century where these things would be seen as great innovations. All the nutricional (i.e. Calories) without the hassle. Vitamins were discovered during the first half of the 20th century and it would take a while for science to conclude that all this processed food was total junk.
Never heard of inflation, huh. Our education system is failing.
Inflation is literally the point of the meme. If you didn’t realize that, then you’re proving your second sentence to be true.
The meme is not saying anything of any substance. It’s not showing anything about the cost of living, income, or anything actually interesting. It’s just “hur due, inflation. Bygone era, hur dur.”
Maybe because it’s a meme.
It’s a really dumb meme.
I think you’re in the wrong place if you’re wanting a long-form commentary on American economics. This is, and I can’t stress this enough, a place for memes.
Your mom is a meme.
Remember when lunch was a dime and we made 5¢ an hour? Hur dur.
