Median home price in 1980 was $224k, 8.6x the median wage ($26k). Median home in 2023 is 400k, 9.5x the median wage ($42k) 10% worse off dqydj.com/historical-h...

In the early 1950s, one third of houses didn't even have full indoor plumbing. Houses were 1,000 square feet and didn't have central air conditioning. Better houses do cost more. If you want to buy a house equivalent to one from the 1950s or 1980s you'd pay a lot less.

Same thing with cars. They cost more, but have more reliability, safety and technology than they did decades ago.

Everything costs more. Unless wages out pace those costs, things become more unaffordable. Back to the main point though, wealth is being concentrated more and more it the top 1%, a lot of which are older people who continue to gain more wealth at the expense of the younger generation.

This chart of wages is adjusted for inflation.