&gt; If modern Americans were content living at the same level of consumption as their 1930&#x27;s counterparts...<p>There are more expenses involved in just getting by now. Mortgages (and I suspect rents) are well above historical price to income ratios. Dual incomes are a necessity for most families. That often means two cars are a necessity. And childcare costs...<p>I don&#x27;t have the time to look it up now, but I believe Elizabeth Warren has a well known talk floating around the internet that deals with the issue of debt and how close many American families are to financial disaster. In that talk there&#x27;s a great breakdown of the shifting nature of expenses.