Re:Ask HN: Is America in Recession?
by paulcole on Sunday November 23, 2025 @12:29PM
(#46025383)
Was 1968 awesome for everybody?
[ Parent
| on HN ]
Re:Ask HN: Is America in Recession?
by toomuchtodo on Sunday November 23, 2025 @01:19PM
(#46025934)
Peak purchasing power of the minimum wage, per the question about entrance to society. To my knowledge, there is no period where America was “awesome for everybody”, as there is always a material cohort or cohorts America subjugates, exploits, or marginalizes for nation state economic success.
I never asked about peak purchasing power of the minimum wage. Not sure why you brought that up tbh.
Re:Ask HN: Is America in Recession?
by toomuchtodo on Sunday November 23, 2025 @01:27PM
(#46026003)
“peak for ease of new entrance to society?” was the question you asked. Maximum earning power for anyone (minimum wage) was the answer. The lower your purchasing power, or access to purchasing power, the less ease for entrance to society, economically speaking. This coincides with the tail end of America’s post WW2 economic boom.
> Maximum earning power for anyone (minimum wage) was the answer.
I think you meant to say “my answer” not “the answer.”
Re:Ask HN: Is America in Recession?
by bluecheese452 on Monday November 24, 2025 @11:18AM
(#46035705)
Why would you think that?
Because there is no single answer here.
Re:Ask HN: Is America in Recession?
by bluecheese452 on Wednesday November 26, 2025 @12:58PM
(#46060374)
Huh? The context is pretty clear.
Re:Ask HN: Is America in Recession?
by WarOnPrivacy on Sunday November 23, 2025 @12:59PM
(#46025768)
1968 was most awesome for white males.
My mom managed to keep the family afloat on one income but she was working a higher-income job (w/ wages somewhat lower than the men below her). Winters could be tougher; we ate what we grew during the summer and didn't always have money for furnace fuel.
Re:Ask HN: Is America in Recession?
by digital_sawzall on Monday November 24, 2025 @12:20PM
(#46036473)
1968 was about 10 years after my grandparents migrated from Mexico to work at textile factories in the USA. They managed to buy a new house in a master planned community that was filled by other factory workers like themselves. He could never be mistaken for a white male, still he took english classes at night and started a side business as an umpire for baseball games and my grandmother started selling gold to the other factory workers during lunch time. They raised 3 kids, upgraded their house, bought a triplex, and a couple acre investment property.
Could any factory worker do that today?