Economic depression vs prosperity

You certainly heard of The Great depression of 1929.-39. The economy was on its knees. One of the images that is embedded in my memory is from Germany, where a man is seen driving a wheelbarrow filled with cash that was essentially worthless.

Reading about it you can easily get the impression that it was a really tough time to be alive. Now you suddenly feel really grateful that you live in such prosperous economy. But… is it really so great as we are being told? I see too many people struggling financially today with basic needs that I feel disgusted calling that a prosperous economy.

Would you believe that it was easier to buy a house in 1929. then today? Back then average wage in US was around $4000 while the average house price was around $6500. That means that you needed less then two years salary to buy a house. Today average wage in US is $65000 and average house price is $356000. Nowadays not even five yearly salaries are enough to buy a house.

Are we really living better today?

I can’t move away from my parents with my wife and child, we simply can’t afford it. The prices of groceries are skyrocketing. For the same amount of money, just six years ago I could buy 2-3 weeks of groceries in comparison to today where I can get maybe 1 week. That’s less than half the buying power. In the meantime, wages have gone up maybe 15-20% during this period.

I think that today’s living conditions (financial) are horrible and it’s only getting worse. Truthfully, I am a little scared.