Why has the Middle Class so declined?

[Badger]

The point is that they could afford what was considered the "latest technology" of that era - television sets, washing machines, etc.

And middle class people today can still do that.  Certainly somebody that heads a city department and his medical receptionist wife would certainly own 2 cars, have cable TV/DVR/a TV bigger than the rich guy in the 50s could ever dream of, Netflix, several PCs, several smart phones, and live in a decent home in not a bad part of town.  They couldn't afford to own two late model cars at the same time or get a new computer every year, but they'll do alright if they aren't horrible with money.  Even the working poor today do better than the middle class of our grandparents.  I'll agree that it's harder for the unskilled to make it to the middle class today than it was for the unskilled of that generation and that that is probably a bad thing, but really, other than a brief couple of decades, that's always been the case.

But what does any of that have to do with anything, Deadman? The problem with youur posts on this topic fundamentally conflates technological advances with economic ones.

The fact internet access, larger screen TVs, cellphones, etc are now accessable readily cheaply, doesn't begin to make up for the fact health insurance and home ownership are increasingly inaccessable.

[Badger]

The point is that they could afford what was considered the "latest technology" of that era - television sets, washing machines, etc.

And middle class people today can still do that.  Certainly somebody that heads a city department and his medical receptionist wife would certainly own 2 cars, have cable TV/DVR/a TV bigger than the rich guy in the 50s could ever dream of, Netflix, several PCs, several smart phones, and live in a decent home in not a bad part of town.  They couldn't afford to own two late model cars at the same time or get a new computer every year, but they'll do alright if they aren't horrible with money.  Even the working poor today do better than the middle class of our grandparents.  I'll agree that it's harder for the unskilled to make it to the middle class today than it was for the unskilled of that generation and that that is probably a bad thing, but really, other than a brief couple of decades, that's always been the case.

But what does any of that have to do with anything, Deadman? The problem with youur posts on this topic fundamentally conflates technological advances with economic ones.

The fact internet access, larger screen TVs, cellphones, etc are now accessable readily cheaply, doesn't begin to make up for the fact health insurance and home ownership are increasingly inaccessable.

But what does any of that have to do with anything, Badger?  The fact remains that people that make a middle class living (like the OP's example) can have health insurance and a home AND have most modern technology.  They might not be able to get a new car every 2 years, but not getting a new car every 2 years isn't a tragedy.

Again, sure it sucks that the unskilled are less and less likely to achieve these things, but I'm not sure homeownership for all is actually all that worthy of a goal.  I've come around on the health insurance front and think that the best we can hope for at this point is to go the way the rest of the western world has gone.  I don't think it's the best solution (but I don't know what the best solution would be), but it's probably better than what we got or had.

I'm not sure where "replacing cars every two years" came from. That wasn't mentioned in the OP, by me, or even your posts to which I responded. I don't think anyone considers such an obviously luxurious practice to be in any way a hallmark of the middle class, either traditionally or presently.

I'm glad that you've turned the corner on health insurance, but i'd respectfully disagree as to whether home ownership is a worthwhile endeavor; most people would disagree. Regardless, that is arguably THE hallmark of middle class status. And the decline of same along with health insurance access isn't remotely replaced by netflix being affordable.