Housing: Today's 30yo live in nicer houses, that are on the whole located in nicer places. Eg. in cities that have less pollution and more facilities than they had before.
Education: Okay, that kind of sucks. But in here Australia, as an example, costs of repayments for the education are way less than the reductions in tax rates over the last 30 years. We had a 60% marginal tax rate when I started work...
Health care: again, the amount and level of health care received today is far higher, and it seems that things are now "health care" that were something else 30 years ago... eg. my health fund has rebates for gym, massages meditation etc.
Child care: this is a little odd... have child care workers' earnings increased? Are there less kids/carer in kindergarten? Or are we just putting kids in kindergarten more, instead of leaving them with Grandma?
Finally: I would trade all of the advantages that the previous generation enjoyed for smartphones and internet. The quality of life today is, IMHO, incomparably higher that 30 years back.
I'd argue that education has never been cheaper. Schooling is where the costs have often grown dramatically.
And as far as schooling goes, the interesting thing here is that while the degree attainment rate (in the US, Canada, and I expect even Australia) has effectively doubled since 1980, the supposed benefits, such as a higher income, that prompted more people to attend an institute of higher learning have not been realized. The youth, post-secondary schooled at a much higher rate than previous generations, are not making more money or better off as this article and many other sources of data point out.
With those promises not fulfilled, I am left wondering why the cost of schooling is even found among the likes of housing and health care? It's an enjoyable pastime, for sure, but not something essential to support (a long) life like the others.
Education: Okay, that kind of sucks. But in here Australia, as an example, costs of repayments for the education are way less than the reductions in tax rates over the last 30 years. We had a 60% marginal tax rate when I started work...
Health care: again, the amount and level of health care received today is far higher, and it seems that things are now "health care" that were something else 30 years ago... eg. my health fund has rebates for gym, massages meditation etc.
Child care: this is a little odd... have child care workers' earnings increased? Are there less kids/carer in kindergarten? Or are we just putting kids in kindergarten more, instead of leaving them with Grandma?
Finally: I would trade all of the advantages that the previous generation enjoyed for smartphones and internet. The quality of life today is, IMHO, incomparably higher that 30 years back.