So true. My Dad made 5800.00 in 1958 with 4 kids at home and a wife who did not work. How was he able to do it?!
We did not live in squalor, had food, clothes, shelter.
The example I was thinking of, was my dad. He was so proud, in the late 1960’s when his salary finally topped $10,000. He had 5 of us kids to take care of. Of course he cut corners to get by, every weekend he took me to help get groceries at the dented cans warehouse and day-old bakeries where hegot discounted food. But as you say, we did not live in squalor or lack food. Same story with my wife, from a family of 6 kids and stay-at-home mom with low-salaried dad. There was less money being stolen in the form of taxes, fees, and regulations that reduce effective buying power.