Comment by somenameforme

The whole point is that the values aren't growing at the same rate. You can certainly compare the growth of n^2 vs n^3 though it probably would not be especially shocking if I told you that n^3 is growing exponentially more quickly. Yet in our case there is no logical reason that real gdp/capita would grow exponentially more quickly than real median wages. In fact it's rather indicative of a severe flaw in the economic system because the difference between the two is accelerating at a dangerously quick rate. Basically - project these values into the future (though it's already a major problem in the present). If they don't begin converging, hard, at some point you're well on your way to creating an extremely broken society.

Boomers weren't driving crappy cars. Even today things like the classic Dodge Charger is a car enthusiast favorite. It's a beast of a muscle car, and retailed for about as much as you pay for a Honda Civic now a days. Similarly the stuff about smaller houses is misleading. Lot sizes over time have actually decreased. In the past you might have had a larger yard, gazebo, shed, and outdoor work area - now you have some walk in closets primarily motivated by selling the house for more, based on square footage, than meaningful utility. And of course now far more people now live in apartments and other non-housing domiciles than in the past.

And yes, obviously education is completely broken. America's greatest intellectual achievement was likely putting men in the Moon that happened, unsurprisingly, in the 60s - as we now struggle to try to just send a man around the Moon. And they did this on the back of a far more limited educational system, with costs a small fraction of what they are today. We pay far more, and get far less, in just about every single way.