Say it with me now: Fuck the family income metric!
FUCK THE FAMILY INCOME METRIC!
how many millions of single people/perpetually single people are out there? We're defining the economic health of our population by a metric that demands a dual income. So yes, 2x the typical salary is enough for a person to get by on. 2 people have to share resources to make ends meet.
For someone like myself who is perpetually and indefinitely single, working full time in a psudo-managment position, it's beyond insulting that I'm "forced" to live in people's basements or garages if I want to keep the slightest glimmer of hope of retirement... A "legitimate" apartment would cost the entirety of my income not even the sadly "typical" 3/4ths.
(don't castrate me for the management thing lol. I'm not the coffee holding office whip cracker, I'm working directly along side my team in a factory doing most of the heavy lifting so they don't need to.)
What older folk often forget is that not only could they easily afford a house in the 60s and 70s, but they likely also could on a single income. Many people nowadays are having trouble affording a house on dual incomes.
Housing keeps going up and couples are now having to split them with other couples just to raise a family. My sister and her fiance live in the basement of a house where his brother and sister-in-law live upstairs with a toddler and twins on the way. They won't have enough room soon and can't afford anything larger, and my sister wants to start having kids soon but the basement isn't exactly larger either.
That's one house for 4 working adults and potentially 4 children, when back in the day you could have a full house with 2 adults and 3-4 children on a single income.
My grandpa worked as a landscaper/gardener and was still able to support his stay-at-home wife and 3 children.
As a fifty year old I would like to point out that I did not officially reach legal age (18) until the 1990's. I am "older". Who you mean are what we colloquially refer to as "old as fuck".