re: When men worked and women took care of the family. Are we better or worse?

That’s not the issue it’s the families with NO dad.

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It’s really not.

Pre-WWII, women were in the home almost exclusively. When women had to take over jobs as men went off to war and then men returned, they figured out they could raise prices with more than one income to a household.

Add to it supply shortages and high demand in post-war, it was a perfect storm. The two parent working household began to escalate from there.

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It’s nonsense. Mothers in the homes was the norm until the 1970s. It has little do with corporate strategy and everything to do with moving away from the gold standard and the stagflation of the 1970s.

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The problem isn’t that two incomes are needed. The problem is that we want so much more stuff. Houses are twice the size. Every kid has his own bedroom.

Cell phones for elementary school kids. Kids playing expensive sports. Much nicer vehicles.

If people were willing to live like it was in the 1950s and 1960s then they could live on one income.

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Eh. Things like internet, computers, and even smart phones have become a necessary evil even for low income households. Particularly if you want those people to be a functioning member of society. Those are all necessary costs that you can’t roll back.

Add to it population sprawl that requires more than a clunker to commute back and forth to work with consistency. Most people in the US, unless you’re in NY or Chicago, can depend on public transportation for regular, consistent transportation. And most cities and rural areas are not “walkable”.

They’re little things but they add up compared to the 50s and 60s. It’s why the comparison is a bit apples and oranges.

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One of the biggest reasons our society is collapsing is the death of the nuclear family where a husband works to provide for the family while the wife stays home to manage the home and children.

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Sacrificing kids are still a thing to some (even symbolically to worship the secular/$$$)…

Are you kidding?

Hell no. Why? Because things are better now than they have been at any time in the past.

What's with all this sad sack nostalgia? If women want to stay home and raise babies, nothing is stopping them. But to have a society where women are home and not allowed to work is really stupid.

You think those old guys with quaaludes popping wives were getting laid?

Give me a woman with a libido and a job.

Two people in the workforce is net negative. It’s not close. I actually think this is what has caused our nation to spiral out of control. I won’t argue what led up to the breaking apart of those traditional roles, BUT…here’s how I see things.

-dad worked, mom was at home raising kids
-economy worsened and women wanted out of the home
-two incomes became necessary for most households
-kids are unsupervised more and more
-kids had more idle time and that coincided with the technology boom
-kids were no longer raised by mom, or spent the majority of their time outside
-kids are fortified inside more and more and left to bad TV, video games, and now and endless stream of pointless videos on the internet
-kids are not socially adjusted, and instead absorb what is on the internet and have nobody to tell them it’s bullshite
-the result is kids that have no direction, no care of consequences of poor decisions/actions
-those “kids” become adults, and we see that play out negatively at times with mass shootings, the trans movement, the “quiet quitting”, etc.

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The problem isn’t that two incomes are needed. The problem is that we want so much more stuff. Houses are twice the size. Every kid has his own bedroom. Cell phones for elementary school kids. Kids playing expensive sports. Much nicer vehicles. If people were willing to live like it was in the 1950s and 1960s then they could live on one income.

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I think this has some merit. Again though, the cost of things that we had in the 50’s and 60’s is out of control. Housing prices are outpacing inflation, same goes for cars.

You are correct in that parents (especially those that work) are giving their kids TVs, video game systems, laptops, phones, iPads…in a sense, redundancy is at play with those devices.

That traditional setup can be better, but how much better depends on the husband. Lots of women were completely trapped in terrible, abusive situations and that wasn't better.

My wife and I have defined roles. I’m great at what I do. Make an unbelievable living financially. She’s a great cook, home manager and loves it. Support her occasionally as a hobby at the local farmers market. We meet in the middle and understand each others challenges and respect them as such.

We’re perfectly happy vs couples that both want to conquer the professional world and continue to fight each other egotistically.