Eberetta the problem is that it is anybody's opinion what constitutes "living." A $7.25/hour job working 40 hours a week is enough to have an apartment in most of the U.S. with a couple of roommates and enough money to spare for food, gas, and insurance. It isn't, nor should it be, enough to raise a family or enough to have your own place + car + all of the things you want. It is hard to compare today with the 70's. Our standards of living have matured significantly since then, with everyone wanting to spend 600 on a phone, 100/month on a phone bill, 60/month on high speed internet. At the same time, many goods have gotten much more cheap since those times. If it seemed to be so much better for you back then, maybe that's because the U.S. was still riding the end of the post-war economic boom. Since then, other countries actually have been competing with us on the global economic stage and it has caused our standards of living to even out a bit.