[applemac_g4]

There is one thing that this article does not account for:

- The rise of the two (and in many cases 2.x) income household.

- The rise of record levels of consumer debt.

While it may be that the saturation of household durable goods has grown over the past decades, I suspect that it has done so more on the backs of cheap credit and dual income families more than anything else.

Forty years ago, a worker with a high school education could support a family of four with his paycheck - and buy a house on a 7 or 15 year mortgage. Today, such a scenario is a pipe dream and families consisting of two college graduates have to have both parents in the workplace and a 30+ year mortgage to pull it off.

I suspect there is a lot of truth to the Kerry/Edwards accusation, but the cause is not conservative policies...it is out of control government spending paired with out of control taxation.

[A. Pole]

Forty years ago, a worker with a high school education could support a family of four with his paycheck - and buy a house on a 7 or 15 year mortgage.

It would be much better if the mothers could stay home, Americans could reproduce themselves without mass immigration from the Third World, had time to go to the church and DVD/VCR ownership were zero.

[Alberta's Child]

You raise a valid point, but I contend that the rise of two-income families was one of the causes of the inflated cost of living in this country (by driving up demand), not a result of it.

If half of our current workforce decided to quit their jobs tomorrow, that $400,000 suburban home would probably only cost $200,000.

[ninenot]

40 years ago Tax Freedom Day was March 13th--meaning that (roughly) taxes take an additional 12.5% of income today.

God only KNOWS what 'tax PLUS regulation' Freedom Day was back then. Today it's around July 1st.

The Cost of Gummint is a significant part of the problem.