Posted on 05/13/2023 10:52:11 PM PDT by Tired of Taxes
Since the 1980s, the economy has changed in ways that are simply difficult to describe. The real impact of inflation and wage stagnation isn’t apparent unless you dig deeper into the numbers. That’s precisely what a recent college grad did when her mother commented on the idea that young workers “expect too much.”
“I think boomers can’t conceptualize this [struggle] because they never had to fight for jobs,” said Cat, a 21-year-old college student. She recently took to TikTok to explain why older workers might find it difficult to empathize with the economic struggles of younger people after a discussion with her mother about mismatched expectations. The video has been viewed 2.2 million times as of May 12.
Cat says her mother made $36,000 a year as an entry-level bank teller in 1980. Meanwhile, the average entry-level worker in America now makes $55,260 a year, according to her calculations. However, when adjusted for inflation the entry-level salary in 1982 — about $33,700 — was closer to $102,200 in today’s dollars.
Effectively, a recent college grad is making half as much as his or her parents did if they graduated 40 years ago. This is also true for low-income workers. The federal minimum hourly wage in the U.S. was $3.10 in 1980 and just $7.25 today. These workers may have doubled their income over 40 years, but it’s apparent the cost of living has accelerated more quickly.
-(SNIP)-
“Boomers had the door wide open and then slammed and barred it behind them,” said one angry commenter to Cat’s video.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
When I started in banking in1972, I was paid $8086 a year.
HEAR HEAR..!!
May be ‘Cat’ is confusing Bank Teller with Bank Robber?
Or “No Immediate Miracles” as Ford’s chief of staff, Don Rumsfeld replied, flipping the button when asked by a reporter how long the administration’s anti-inflation measures would take to work.
As a single point of comparison, I recently paid about 50% more for a similar car as I did 17 years ago. If those shadow numbers were right the price would have more than tripled.
As a newly commissioned Second Lieutenant in the Army in 1991, my base pay was less than half of that...
In the Carter Years, inflation was so high, a loan for a new dodge pickup was OVER 20%. I was trying to buy one and decided I did not need it. I clearly remember that. 20% interest.
That’s correct!
Even though Boomers are a large generation, they alone haven’t voted in the pols responsible for the federal student loan and grant mess that has tempted young, marginal students to take on debt for six-year parties.
The old community college to two years of state college while working is still viable for any willing to follow that path.
EET fresh out of college 1980. Starting salary 18000.00. Oil Dynamics.
Tulsa. OK
36,000 for a bank teller. What BS.
I made $14,500 in 1980 and that was a skilled trade job, not a bank teller job.
Public school. They graduated knowing no history, no economics, no literature and poor reading skill and not much of anything else outside of left wing indoctrination. Learning that 2+2 can = 5 helps kids feel smart when thy are not but it does not help anyone in the real world of getting and spending.
No helicopter parents watching every move you made. No cell phones that tethered you to them either. I remember when I was in Little League, I walked to practices myself and my father came to just one game. It was not expected back then. You went outdoors, met up with other kids your age, and found things to do, whether it was exploring abandoned houses, catching frogs and such at the marshes, or getting up a pickup baseball game.
Almost every kid had his own bicycle, like the banana bike down below and we fixed them up ourselves.
For most of us, sitting inside and watching TV all day was not typical. Only a handful of broadcast stations, most of which showed soap operas and games shows during daytime. No video games. No internet. So we really only had the option of going outside.
On rainy days, we'd go to the movie house, for a couple of dollars, you got the Saturday matinee that usually had a double feature, kids could spend all afternoon at the movie house. Almost every kid over the age of about 12 had money in their pocket, usually from paper routes, mowing people's lawns, skimming their pools and what not. Some small businesses would hire you "under the table" to do various scut work for a dollar or two.
You never really wanted to hang out at home though. In addition to there being very little to do there, you mom was likely to thrust a broom in your hand and put you to some housecleaning chores. So we typically stayed outdoors until dinner time.
Exactly. Inflation is a consequence of bad government.
I can forgive the young for having no concept of what it was like for boomers (and us Gen Xers) having to compete for jobs or struggle to pay bills. But how have they already forgotten the golden years of Trump's low inflation and job growth? That was only four years ago, right up until the scamdemic.
I would bet that there were newly minted bank Vice Presidents making not over $36k in 1980.
Video was not taken down.
I made a few dissenting comments to her video and was banned. China is watching.
I removed my account that I created just so I could comment and I could see the video again. Clearly, China is behind this young lady and supporting her videos..
What state does this girl live in? What state would pay a bank teller that much in 1980?
I live in West TN, and $35K is what bank tellers are paid TODAY.
“This one claims her mother’s starting salary as a bank teller in 1980 was $36,000/year.”
I can tell you that my first real job as a Computer Programmer in 1987 working for a bank and making $19,000/yr was a good income for someone starting out ... and I was thankful.
I can say with absolute certainty that NO BANK TELLER was making 36 Large back in 1987, let alone 1980!
No media to run and whine to, no groups to advocate for THEM, NO government safety net for THEM!!!!
“Cat” sounds like an idiot trying to school Americans about Cat Sh*t economics on Tik Tok. I can’t believe how tough it is for her to find a job. There are NOW HIRING signs everywhere I look. Secondly, no one in her generation deserves a hundred grand just because they all have been taught by their “boomer” parents the necessity of living a life of luxury and having somebody else pickup the tab. (Student loan deadbeats) The idiot should stick to being a freeloading Tik Toke idiot. Moron. We “Boomers” can handle the economy.
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