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anastasiano70: My grandparents, born in 1912, were the first of their MANY siblings to have a bathroom INSIDE their house. Their siblings and spouses and nieces and nephews all came to admire and use it.
That cracks me up. They were considered the RICH ones
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rikitikilizi: My friends with air conditioners always only had one window unit, usually in the parents' bedroom, and that room always had the shade drawn and the door closed. We always felt so scandalous opening that door to duck into the room to cool off for a few minutes in the dark.
Let’s begin this trip down memory lane in 1950s America. World War II had just ended, which ushered in the baby boom era. According to History, the U.S. gross national product grew from $200 billion to $500 billion to kick off “the Golden Age of American Capitalism.”
During this time, the government increased spending on the construction of interstate highways and schools. Inflation and unemployment rates were at an all-time low, giving middle-class people more financial leeway.
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ujmrider1961: Born in 1961, lived in a suburban neighborhood in the Denver area all through the '70s.
When I was growing up, most families only had one car. Even though my mom worked when I was a kid and in school, we never had more than one car, and that was true of most of our neighbors as well.
We were solid middle class. Dad was a Federal government employee, Mom and Dad both had college degrees, and most of our neighbors were professional/white-collar families with both parents at home.
Two cars in the driveway were just starting to become more common by the mid-1970s, although even then, we never had two cars
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Alongside the baby boom of the ’50s came the suburban boom. Real estate developers like William Levitt bought land in the city outskirts and built cheap tract houses.
At the same time, the G.I. Bill helped veterans through subsidized housing, helping them purchase homes at a much lower price. At the time, houses were much more affordable than apartments.
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tater72: I, too, had a party line (six houses). Boy, there were no secrets there.
Finally, that rich family paid for the phone company to run them their own, and everyone else got one too. I was a teenager
We’re jumping forward to the 1960s in the U.K. The Guardian writer Patrick Collinson shared his father’s experience earning an annual salary of £1,357 as an accounts clerk from 1963 to 1964.
According to him, his father was able to purchase a brand-new three-bedroom home for a family of five. They also owned a Ford Popular and a Phillips TV. His father had no outstanding loans.
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Other people who lived in the ’60s revealed what it was like to experience some form of wealth. Pavillion Agency Vice President Seth Norman Greenberg shared some insights with Business Insider. Greenberg’s uncle founded the agency in 1962.
“Leading up to the 60s, maybe even the 70s, most wealthy families had a primary property. They possibly had a second home.”
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The 1970s were difficult because of what was described as “The Great Inflation.” According to Investopedia, rates rose as high as 14%, and people felt it in their bank accounts.
Many found it difficult to budget their weekly expenses, which led to many items being beyond their means. Meat and gas prices, for one, were at an all-time high.
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The U.S. economy bounced back in the 1980s. Inflation rates reportedly dropped to 3.5 percent during the decade's latter half. It was also a time when the rich got richer.
In a 1991 report by the Chicago Tribune, the number of millionaires in Illinois soared by 4,000, from 157 in 1977 to 6,240 in 1988. The top 16 wealthiest individuals earned an annual income of over $50,000 (around $133,000 in 2024).
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