More On Tumbrels / Nice Work

Over at The Clutter Museum, a post that resonates with me: "Idaho Is Waiting."

In many ways, Clutter & her family are better off than the delagar family.  For one thing, they're not in Arkansas.  (Heh heh.) For another, her husband currently seems to have a job, whereas Dr. Skull has been unemployed for almost two years now.  Also, she has tenure, which I never will, since my university doesn't grant it.

But in other ways, they're worse off.  They're in Idaho, they've got more than one kid, they live in a place with a very high COL, and so on.

In essence, though, we've got the same problem, and it's the problem most people who used to be middle class have.  Pay has not kept up with the rising cost of living.  She speaks, for instance, of huge medical costs.  We've got those too.  And there are huge housing costs.  Huge fuel costs.  Student loan costs.  All these costs have doubled and tripled just in the past 30 years -- everything has, except our salaries, which have remained flat.

So here we are, trying to raise families, house families, and educate children, and (theoretically at least) save for retirement on a middle-class salary?

It can't be done.  We've been keeping afloat by taking extra work; or at least I have.  But now we're sick and exhausted and anyway the extra work is gone.

So now what?