The "Good Old Days?" Well, not so much, really.

[enki23]

90. 3 dollars/hr in 1962 would be 30/hr today.

The value of that house, if it just tracked inflation, would be around 145,000. Good luck finding a decent three bedroom house for that today, especially in the sort of places that would pay $30/hr to an auto mechanic (who, it's not at all unlikely, might have some student loans to pay back).

That's just the start. I know you have some points in there, and the good old days were shit in many, many ways. But whenever people start comparing economics and how bad wages used to be and how they struggled to buy a house, I just want to scream a bit. Some things have gotten better, though the vast majority of that better went to the top. Class mobility, wealth inequality, in particular, has gotten a lot, lot worse. A big part of that decline is due to the fact that housing inflation has far outstripped wage growth since the 1960's.