You couldn't buy a computer when I was a small kid and not one that was worth a damn compared to today's computers even as a teenager. My friend's older brother paid $100 for an early calculator that could only add and subtract.

You couldn't pay for internet service because it didn't exist for the public.

I was a teenager before we inherited a color TV. There are 4 in my house and one in the van It's hard to compare my families choices now with my families choices then despite similar relative incomes due to very different priorities and a divorce. I do no that the first color TV I baought was a 19" with no remote and was not cable ready for about $200. Today you can get a 27" for that or a TV/VCR/DVD combo.

We didn't have DVD's or even VCRs.

We didn't have video games when I was little although Atari made its appearence as I was growing up.

Houses were smaller.

Fewer people had two cars although that is not an option with two workers.

On the whole I think we in the middle class are treading water although the issue of needing two incomes may be real or it may be a product of increased expectations. It's not nearly as simple a picture as the article paints to answer that question.

I do know I think a family should be able to live comfortably on the income level listed.

Regards,
Mark