NEWSWEEK.COM 23
millennials are justifiably outraged over the growing
wealth gap. Here’s what gets lost, though. While the average person
may be slipping further behind the wealthy, they are still better off in
absolute terms than they were 50 years ago, in income and net worth.
Average household income in 1969 was about $64,000 in today’s dol-
lars (adjusted for inflation). Today, it’s at $90,000—a jump that can
only partly be explained by the rise in two-income families—and
households were larger back then too. Per person, each of us has
about 50 percent more income than a typical person did in 1969.
Taxes are much lower now than they were in 1969. Overall,
things are cheaper. While health care and education costs have ris-
en faster than inflation, many everyday items have become much
less expensive. A round trip New York–London air ticket cost $550
back then, about what it costs now. But once inflation is consid-
ered, that $550 ticket would cost over $3,700 in today’s dollars.
The cheapest color TVs cost the equivalent of $3,000, which is whyonly one in three homes owned one.
Best of all is phone usage. In 1969,
according to Federal Communications
Commission data, rates varied by loca-
tion, distance, time of day and type of
call (business vs. residence). A typical
10-minute chat cost about $15 in today’s
dollars, and much more if the location
was more than a few miles away. These
days, the average person spends almost
three hours a day on their phone—call-
ing, texting, browsing, etc.—so your
cellphone bill would be about $8,000
a month if you were paying the usage
rates we paid. You may still be broke,
but you’re surrounded by better stuff.Wealth
& Income