(The following are SWAGs) Circa 1977 my parents combined weekly income, after taxes, was around $375 per week. In todays dollars, estimates range from $1140 to as much as $3,010. The same working class family today earns around $725 BEFORE taxes. All of this is to say that working class folks were much much better off in the late 1970s, particularly when you factor in PPP for big items like housing, health care, and good affordable public education like we used to have here in California. Back then, the likelihood of catching the American dream if you were working class was much higher than it is today.
Posted on: Thu, 25 Dec 2014 19:55:00 +0000