Why on earth would someone put 50-60 percent of their income on housing? That is beyond stupid and no wonder they go broke. Very bad money management.
But I do think that the difference between the same house - the same house - if its likely cost was 35K in 1955 and is now 600K in 2005 is a far greater increase than the likely increase in salary of the sole breadwinner for the household, 1950s again, but having recently purchased such a property.
Where are you getting those figures? Besides you are comparing apples to oranges because of location. If the city has expanded and the house is now closer to certain things then the price will go up because the location is no longer the same.
Instead, my sense is, regardless of the article, that both parents HAVE to work, in most cases, because their costs are out of control.
And my knowledge is that if you sit down and figure out what it costs to have both parents working that the end result is pretty much null.
It's not that they live extravagantly, which is I think your complaint.
My complaint is that many people live beyond their income. It does not matter what size that income is if you live beyond it. Please see all the people who were once fabulously wealthy are are now flat broke. They had high incomes but had no idea of how to manage it.
There is no such thing as a living wage when you persist in spending beyond your income.
It's that they are trying to provide a bare minimum which unarguably is hampered by government taxation, regulation, and by corrupt banking practices and greed,
Yes, the greed of the consumer to spend more then they have.
and also arguably seems to have come much easily for many families 40 years ago, with the benefits I mentioned.
Go read this.
http://www.mwilliams.info/archives/003994.php
I will not argue with you that taxes are high but things were tougher 40 years ago. Not easier. People want more.
Bare minimum! Please.
Because the cheapest home in the area is overpriced. But the limited housing stock guarantees that the 'bubble' doesn't burst. People have been predicting a collapse in real estate prices for years.
the price will go up because the location
Or because they are willing both to work, and maybe two jobs each, and still put over 50% of that income into the payments, which with refi could mean the property is never truly theirs - which is really the dream of property holding and bequeathing any estate. Stability, in other words, and good for society. And it might be that such is slipping away in this country. It might be. You give me the sense that you could care less, in any case.
the greed of the consumer
But it isn't the consumer that levies this tax, and then that, this taxing regulation and that, this service fee or that, all of which seem to increase daily. Don't blame the victim of government and moneylending. Don't blame the consumer because oil prices have skyrocketed, along with the price at the pump. Don't blame the consumer for the high price of property. Or if you prefer, do blame certain ones with more money than sense, who get themselves into trouble, perhaps. But the rest are powerless to stop them in a free market. You don't say to the seller of the widget that he's getting too much. You only hope that reason prevails. But you can ignore the widget and let people spend foolishly on speculation. You can't ignore the widget when it's literally the local housing stock. You have to live somewhere, after all.