Where has that life gone?

I remember when I was growing up in the 70's. My father was a retired enlisted man from the Air Force with a $600 a month pension. He went to work at age 40 as a maintenance man at the post office for about $15,000/yr. All together his income wasn't more than $22,000/yr. My father bought our house for $18,000 on a 15-year bank note. It was on a quarter-acre lot and had: 3 bedrooms, a living room, a Florida room (this was in Clearwater, Fl), a den, a full kitchen and dining room, a large back patio and a garage. We took a family vacation every summer. And I mean cool vacations: visiting relatives up north, Disney, Sea World, Cape Kennedy, even Las Vegas one summer! We had 2 cars: my mom drove a Ford Granada and my father a Ford Pinto. My father played golf every weekend. He always had a boat; he loved to fish.

My parents drank beer, whiskey and my mother smoked (all very expensive vices). We kids were in Boy Scouts, little league, and other social activities. We got new bikes for Christmas twice and one Christmas even got a T.V. We had great health insurance (which I put to the test on many occasion with broken bones). My parents had only gas credit cards. My father had no 401(k), no stocks or bonds or any of that crap. My father even managed to work 6 days a week and paid for my sister's college costs out of his own pocket! Can you believe that? My mother was a homemaker and yet they retired in 1985 at the age of 55!

Where has that life gone? A man w/o a college education was the sole provider for a family of 4 like that; unbelievable.

Отсюда.

P.S. Кто сказал, что СССР проиграл в холодной войне? Я тоже рос в 70-е годы и, кажется, сейчас весь мир катится туда - back to the USSR.