House, Car and Family on $65 a week?

I had lunch with my Mom yesterday to celebrate my birthday. Her treat!!
She took me out to a fabulous Chinese buffet...near the Beach in Sunny Isles, Florida...and we were chitter chattering between trips back and forth to the buffet tables...chocolate fountain and all....and then....we got to talking.
We got to talking, about my plans next weekend to meet with some of my oldest friends whose families had also purchased homes on Long Island about the same time as our family did in the early 1950’s.
My Father was a Brooklyn kid, and a returning Soldier... who married an English girl, who became his “War Bride”...and by 1954, with 2 growing children..my brother and me.... they left the boroughs of NY.. for a life in suburban Long Island, still pocketed with tomato and potato farms...
My father was an appliance Salesman...who worked for VIM’s...As you might imagine the appliance business was very strong.... and a necessity for the emerging housing communities on Long Island...he managed the store and earned $65 per week.
My mother was a stay at home mom. She proceeded to tell me, that they also purchased their newly built 3 bedroom/2 bath Split level house for $17,500... they put a few thousand down...and took out a 30 year 4% fixed mortgage....plus we had a new car, a Nash, and a family of 4 to feed...my younger brother was not born yet...

I sat in utter amazement that they could accomplish all of that... on $65 dollars a week of income?
She told me that once a month, my dad would get a little excess income from being the store manager...and that they were also able to save after all the expenses were paid.
They were a part of a newly emerging middle class. No credit, little to no debt and money in the bank. It was the “best of times” as she put it...
I started to think about, what in the world has gone wrong...in just 50 years?
We have millions of people who are struggling, unemployed and within a short period of time... will basically run out of money and exhaust all resources....those older Americans’ who have lost their jobs....people in their 60’s... will be taking social security at an early age 62, just to have a source of income.....putting more pressure on a pressurized system.
Many younger Americans will lose their houses...not educate their children..and conceivably could be destitute in short shrift...
I am not talking about irresponsible people...I’m talking about normal hard working people... who have also embraced the American Dream of home ownership, education and living a Middle class life style...
We are on the brink of the “worst of times”...and getting worse..

What is most troubling...is that years of Administrations, both republican and democrat have slowly distanced themselves from the lives and everyday Americans’....and effectively have become the chosen few. While the issues that face people, have been politically abandoned for the sake of the wealthy.
The middle class is evaporating, like the moisture on a black towel...that dries on a sunny day... it is happening very fast...they are overcome with debt, have no resources left and there are no job prospects in sight.....possibly... for years to come......
All that the past 30 years of Reaganomics has done is to widen the gap between the rich and the poor...and frankly they don’t give a shit...things are good for them...

The suburban middle class life which.... my Mother and Father worked so hard to achieve.. Has basically been lost over 2 generations...
This is the heart of the problem... history has taught us that... when there is no middle class, and all that exists... is rich and poor...that that society is destined for, violence and potentially revolutionary behavior and failure.

I just don’t know what to say or do....it’s beyond my comprehension...just the same as living on $65 a week was.... in the 1950’s..
So as my mom, reached into her pocket to pay for the buffet, drinks and a tip....I thought to myself... Damn that was a week’s pay in 1950!!
But she always has something in Reserve....or she wouldn’t do it..

Thanks mom!!...love always...rayray