>>People need to stop living above their means.<<
The “need” for two incomes is a myth. By the time you add in the costs of the second income the net to the household is negligible.
The two working parents is from womyn who want it all: kids AND career. Men have never had an option.
I have read of people who did the math and they found that they came out further ahead with one income because of all the extra expenses two incomes and not enough time garner.
If you lived here in NJ you’d realize that without a large income (from one or two or three sources) you would have a low standard of living and live in an unsafe area. Ditto for NY state; it is why the middle class is fleeing these two states. Two average incomes don’t provide what would pass for a “middle class” lifestyle in Middle America.