Sw, Now don't get me.wrong, I agree with the fact that a dollar today doesn't buy what a dollar in the 80s would, I have to question the numbers you use to make your point. $2500 cars? Buddy, that's what a "community college" car costs these days (My trucks both cost around 9k by the time everything was said and done, but they were under 100k miles, no damage, and paid for in cash from mowing as a kid and my high school and CC jobs). I could buy a 2/1 house in my home town (pop 40k) for $50,000; that same house would cost me $120,000 in Ithaca, NY (same-ish population). A large portion of my generation's money problems come from two things: 1) under qualified/ unmotivated in finding a good job, and 2) being terrible at budgeting. That being said, who could blame them on #2? Our parents by and large don't teach us about money, and our education system is a joke. The government bailed out automakers, banks, insurers, you name it... Why won't they just bail out Joe Schmoe at 1234 Average Lane? The long and the short of it is, we were raised into some crappy economic conditions, and we all have a long row to hoe if we want to keep the same from happening to our kids
