The Difference between a 23YO American in 1980, and a 23YO American in 2025

[JT45242]

59. Younger than you but can relate as a Gen X born in 1970...I can relate

First jobs were delevering the "Door Store" ads and the local weekly newspaper.

Eventually worked at a McDonald's and was making about $8 in 1991 when minimum wage was around $4.50. Was so good at what I did, that they paid me travel time to drive 4 hours from college each weekend each way to preclose on Friday, open Saturday, and open Sunday. One of the guys, I went to HS with bought his first store at age 22 while I was still in college with his profit sharing. McD's corporate stores gave you a 2% bonus every year and many of us qualified for matching stock options. When I finally graduated, I was making about $24K a year ($just under $12/hour). That's equivalent to $53,400 a year today according to google. You could live on that in most places.

I quit that job to become a science teacher at a Catholic school (they hired me when I graduated in August) for $14K plus $3k in extra contract work (man the computer lab, scoreboard operator, etc). I didn't make much more at the public school when I left after two years. It was my fourth year as a school teacher that I outearned my wife who was working as adminstrative support staff for an architecture firm and then a doctor's office.

Yeah -- the irony of painting "welfare cheats" as black women who had extra kids to get more welfare tapped into both racism and a sense of resentment rather than the reality that most welfare is corporate welfare going to investors and c-suite types is too painful.

Walmart, General Electric, defense contractors, at first then later apple, google, all of Apartheid Clyde businesses that took over definded government agencies like NASA and of course ALWAYS THE BANKS.

Yesterday I heard Gov. Braun in Indiana talk about the for porfit companies charging huge amounts for electricity because they are not regulated and appealed to their good nature to "help Indianians out"....seriously, regulate profits and safety. Problem solved. BUt that would never come out of a rethigligan mouth even though they know deep down that it is the solution -- just not the one that the people who REALLY PAY them want.