out in the woods where I live, the hunters wives use to send them out with a sack of turnips, and what they didn't eat, the put in the ground, here and there, and even today when you are out looking for mushrooms, every now and then you find a turnip.
Back in the 1950's Investment was 55% of the GDP; today it is less than 14%. There was no inflation to speak of back then when we adhered to Bretton Woods. Wealth is a product of investment; not consumption. We stopped investing and we started consumming and used inflation to create an illusion that we were wealthy...we collected stuff; not assets...and soon two had to work to keep up with the cost of stuff...we have been consuming more and investing in real assets less, and now we can't even promote enough inflation to cover up the truth that our wealth has declined and our stuff is not an asset.
There was only a very brief moment in history when that was true. Outside of that tiny tiny window, both men and women worked their asses off just to make ends meet.
Good point. And there was a time when most women weren't employed but basically worked form sun up to sun down to help the family survive. Such a great life
Yep. Anybody who thinks maintaining a home and family without aid of mod cons isn't "real work" is delusional. The "one income golden days" meme is a fraud.
that's why I always tell them, "Don't buy her a vacumn cleaner. Next thing you know she will get a job."
that's one of the better posts. One of my first landlords told the story of how when they were first married, they had a knife, a fork, and a spoon, and use to share them for dinner. Yet somehow, when the property I was renting became available, they were able to come up with the down payment from their savings. What are savings anyway? Isn't that those things Japanese people have? I have a credit card with plenty of credit left on it. Is that the same as savings? My parents use to have a savings account. But I don't see the point in it. It don't pay nothing anyhow.
Of course women have always worked; in the home and outside. The point of change is what they were working on.
Wasn't there also a change in expectations, a move to money as the center of life, and an entitlement mentality? When I started out, buying a starter home was the way to begin for many, now they want a 5 bedroom mansion or nothing (a generalization since some still work their way up) and welfare was a bad thing, now the term is discriminatory and in some ways a badge of honor. The comment about 55% of the GDP is interesting. Why would Investment have fallen so dramatically? Is it partly due to the rise in credit which slowly siphons money to the lenders?