An alternative view on life, politics, and computers
Acquisition of material goods exceeds desire to raise children
Published on January 15, 2004 By Calor In Home & Family

    We live in a society that has increasing access to information but seemingly less willing to actually make use of that information. Every 4 years politicians will argue that things aren't as good as they were in some past golden age in an effort to win the election.

    Nowhere is this myth propagated more than in the area of standard of living. People are told by unscrupulous politicians that today you need two wage earners to make ends meet. Politicians don't want to blame voters for their own material greed. In reality it is our own greed that causes us to need 2 people to work in order to "make ends meet". Our material greed has created life style expectations that we simply can't achieve with one age earner. Any serious study of the past makes it pretty apparent that the difference between life in the 50s and today isn't that we need two wage earners but that we aren't willing to live anywhere near the same lifestyle as people did in 1950.

    In 1970, the average new home was only 1,400 square foot.  In 1950, the average size was only 900 square foot. Today, the average size is 2,200 square foot. A 2,200 square foot house is going to cost a lot more than a 1,400 square foot house or a 900 square foot house.  Similarly, owning 2 cars instead of 1 car costs twice as much, particularly if we insist, as many do, on owning new cars every few years. We also have a great deal more arbitrary expenses such as cable, renting movies, going out to eat and more that all quickly add to the expense tab. We also now demand air conditioning and other home comforts which can add several hundred dollars more per year in costs.

    When you add all these things up, you suddenly reach the point where the average wage earner just can't keep up. It is true that wages, when adjusted for inflation, have remained relatively stagnate. It is also true that essential costs have gone down in cost such as food, housing per square foot, etc.  The blame lies with us and our increasing materialist desires. 

    Most people don't realize how materialist they are because their definition of materialism is based on comparing themselves with a contemporary. That is all well and good until people begin complaining about the "good old days" when a single wage earner could support a wife and 2 kids. The mean American salary could still easily support a spouse at home and 2 children if they were willing to live in a lifestyle that was similar to that during the supposed golden age. Buy a 900 (or even 1200 square foot home), go without cable, don't get air condition and don't go out to eat except on special occasions and a salary of $28,000 will do the job just fine. But few people today are willing to live that way. We want to have the DVD player, multiple TVs with one of them a big screen, we want to go out to lunch at fast food restaurants or go out to a nice restaurant on occasion.

    The problem just is that we don't want a 900 square foot home, we want the 1800 or 2000 square foot home. We want to be able to buy movies and CDs and computers. We want to have the $20 per month cable TV and the $20 per month internet connection. You'll probably want another car too. Which is fine but odds are it'll take more than one wage earner to afford all those nice things. Things that many of us take for granted today. We have lost the ability to differentiate between WANT and NEED.

    At some point, possibly when the baby boom generation came into their prime, the acquisition of material wealth superseded the importance of raising children by a full time stay-at-home parent. I don't really have much opinion over whether that is a good thing or not. What is clear, to me anyway, is that this is what has happened. We want our stuff more than we want to have a parent raising our children full time.


Comments (Page 1)
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on Jan 16, 2004
I disagree completely.

To say a society is materialistic is to say that they put high value on material goods. In America we don't value it at all we just try to consume material goods as fast as possible.
on Jan 16, 2004
I am sure there would be a market for a 1000 square foot house, but only condos and townhouses are built that size today. My son and daughter-in-law live simply with only one car but both of them work. The cost of housing is too high for one average income. I agree about materialism--but getting rid of all the televisions, dvd players, etc. would not allow a person to buy a house without a good income in a metropolitan area where most of the jobs are. Maybe all of the stuff is a distraction from the reality of overpriced housing, insurance that is out of reach for many Americans and low paying jobs with frequent layoffs.
on Jan 16, 2004
Did you know that shortly after the WWII the advertising industry began teaching people how to shop? While the men were away fighting, the women, with little or no income, were very thrifty. Not easy to advetise to them that they needed luxury items like a new dress etc. So they began using psychology to advertise to them, teaching them that they deserved to have that new dress, or that they deserved a break and it was okay to give the family T.V. Dinners.

Now we wonder why we are addicted to things? We have been taught by those who know what they are doing, to desire things, to need to have better than the Jonses. Hell, I even think of things to buy when I am trying to solve problems, if something is wrong, there is some 'product' out there that will fix it.
on Jan 16, 2004
The whole purpose of selling is to make you buy something you don't need. Everything is marketing and you pay for it. Wihtout marketing most of the products you buy would be cheaper.
on Jan 16, 2004
Living in England rather than the US will have some differences but in general I agree with a lot of what you're saying. I agree with the general point that we are now far more demanding in our desires and therefore require more money to satisfy those desires. I do think that house price inflation has shot totally out of control though. You comment that wages are roughly stagnant when adjusted for inflation, but house prices have increased many times above inflation. Even allowing for the fact that houses are bigger, they cost far more (adjusted for inflation) per sq foot than back in 1950.

In the UK, the average house prices is 160k UK pounds (source. UK government survey nov 03). The average wage is 24k (source. UK gov, Jul 03). Someone on a wage of 24k can borrow 3 times their salary or about 72k. That is barely enough to buy a 1 bedroom flat (assuming a decent deposit). By necessity people require two wages to afford a small house.

So i agree in general with your statements, but house prices are definitely too high.

Paul.
on Jan 16, 2004
Materialism. How do we raise our kids not to be sucked into it? All around us, everyone has "things"
I struggle as an adult to not fall into it. Our family chooses to live in a less "yuppy" area of the country
but, it is still there. I try to keep commercial TV limited to the kids. I explain that when they need
new shoes, what they "need" is something to cover and protect their foot, not $150 "Skate" sneakers.
Yes, we have 2 cars, but we keep them for 8 or more years! Yes, we have cable, but we have the
lowest "tier", no movie channels etc. Yes, we have internet, and here is an example of how you feel
that you "need" something: you feel your children would be at a disadvantage in school to not have access
My high schooler e-mails homework to teachers. Yes, the world has changed. I personally feel that
given the materialism (that isn't going away) we need to thoroughly impress upon the kids that
you can't spend into huge DEBT. Explain that you can't have everything, that there are choices,
that buying one thing may mean you can't buy another.
on Jan 16, 2004
I agree that Western society has let go of their faith and fear of God and replaced it with material consumption. It breaks my heart everyday to see the lack of love, hope, faith and companionship children lack. More than 50% of marriages end up in divorce. Family values are gone. People say it's better for the kids. Nobody really thinks about the love a child needs to grow up to be healthy and well balanced, people instead think about themselves. I'm glad you brought up the topic because it's something that needs to be addressed. north America worships money and thinks that it's better to have money than to have love. People commit suicide at the casino daily and yet they still allow casinos to be built. There's a real value problem and I hope to God we can resolve it with God's help.
on Jan 16, 2004
Sherye,

I don't know about where you live, but there are lots of houses built in the 1950s that are in good condition, and are about 1000 square ft. My house is one of them. My mortgage payment is about the same I'd be paying if I was renting a 2 bedroom apartment around here. I still have to pay utilities, but at least I'm building up equity.
on Jan 16, 2004
The fault is not "them" or "society"..the fault is US, singularly. And only THEN do we make up a society. How is it Wrong for me to want a bigger house?
How can ANYONE but me decide what *I* need?
How can Happy Friend's comments " that Western society has let go of their faith and fear of God and replaced it with material consumption." apply to me when I'm not Happy Friend?
My religion, my job, my belief system doesn't include anyone else but me. I can't go and point my finger saying "You own two new cars, you are the Scourge of God!"
Because that isn't true..it's their decision to make.
Everyone knows that advertisements are there to con you. But you allow it anyways if you go and buy that product because you seen it on TV.
How does it make me materialistic to want something? Are we supposed to live in poverished settings/
We keep looking back to the 50's..okay, what about 1910?..or the 20's? My grandfather lived in a chicken coup with seven other siblings, slept on one matress, and had to share the same bathwater. How were the 50's NOT materialistic? How can you compare that to now?
I can afford to buy an alienware PC..I can afford to heat my house in the winter and keep it cool in the summer. I CAN. I'm empowered to.
How is that wrong, Calor? Because YOU think it's unnessecary and materialistic?
Live your life your own way. If you wish to be a backwoods hermit in a one room shack without any amenities, feel free.
But *I* can get what I want.
on Jan 16, 2004
One last thing:
The American way of life that we live today is inspired by the AMERICAN DREAM of yesteryear.
on Jan 16, 2004
I agree with Calor on this one. "making ends meet" means a whole different thing now than when I was growing up. When I was growing up we weren't paying for cable TV and modems. We never went out to eat (well, maybe a couple of times on special events). We had maybe one new car the whole time I was growing up. My parents built the home I grew up in. No air conditioning. We chopped wood to heat the house for a large part of my childhood. I never was without anything I needed and didn't think there was anything wrong with the way we lived.

Most of the people I know now are paying thousands of dollars a year for sports programs for their kids. They wear the latest fashions, go out to eat at least once a week, have two new cars, have a huge mortgage on a 2400sq ft or + house, vacation every year, etc. I am not saying anything is wrong with that. I am just with Calor on the fact that most families have the second income for the amenities not to make ends meet.

Expectations of what life should be like have changed vastly. Having a roof, food and clothing doesn't mean success anymore to the majority. You can still live a healthy life on one income. I just can't see the "making ends meet" argument.

Sherye, you can get a 1000sq ft manufactured house that comes in two pieces. Once it is all together, they do drywall on the inside and you can't tell it is any different than any other house.
on Jan 16, 2004
Yup. I think that's why it looks as though we have a lower quality of life, because we want more, but I don't think that's a bad thing. I'm a material girl and I'm living in a material world and I love it!
on Jan 16, 2004
hummmm no need no get through
on Jan 16, 2004
....

Bah - I wrote something, and it was far too incoherent. *sighs* I really should have gotten more sleep last night - but you know what? I /like/ my standard of living, thankyouverymuch. I like my 1,400 square foot townhome, I like my digital cable, I like my multiple computers, I like my direct-dial telephone (you can use it with long distance now too!) and, I'm also rather fond of my central heat and air. Wouldn't give any of it up for the world. Well, the cable I like, but enh.

I wonder, Calor, if you were writing this in the 50's? (Well, not that you'd have an audience - you know, the whole computer thing,) would you be saying the same thing about 1900? After all - look at all of the luxuries the people in the 50's had that they didn't need! Frightful - truly the most consumer minded people who've ever existed! They used -electricity- to light their homes, can you imagine?
on Jan 17, 2004
I thought I already alluded to the difference between the 50's and the early 1900's..*scratches head* lol
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