I think it has gotten much harder.
The costs of basics have risen hugely compared to the rise in wages.
>From 78 to 82, I was living on around $1000 a month ......very comfortably.
This included rent, food, cigs, car, clothes, even vacations. There was even enough money for cocaine.
The cost of all these things (except clothes) has skyrocketed.
I also managed to get through a Ph.D. program without a penny of debt.
That's all gone now.
A parking ticket in Oakland costs $70 dollars. Fixing my car costs, on average, $500. Cell phones are more expensive than land lines. Medical care and schooling (above community college) are not affordable unless you borrow or have savings. Etc.
*****************************************************************************************************************************************
Point of information:
Money is such a changing value. Like all commodities, it mystifies so much in terms of our social relations. But, does anyone have a handle on a REAL wage and cost of living price comparison between say 1912 and now. The prices of necessities like housing, food, transport vs. the wages on average or the median. I know that output per average hour of labour has skyrocketed since 1912.
Curious in Perth, Mike B)
*********************************************************************** Equal political power between men and women. Abolition of wage-labour and commodity production with distribution of goods and services based on useful labour time. Grassroots democracy. http://wobblytimes.blogspot.com/