From Reddit:

ConcernPrestigious12
2 days ago
"As for being poor but making it (raising a family) work, I’m sure it was way easier to make it work in their day than it is now, the cost of living keeps going up while wages stagnate. It’s something I really think the older generation doesn’t understand."

torienne
1 day ago
"Oh we get it. The disappearance of the American Dream (that your children will do better than you did) started in the mid-1970s. As the Baby Boom hit the job and housing market, the Law of Supply and Demand kicked in. Lots of great jobs became hard-to-get, few, jobs. Inexpensive housing got more and more expensive as the supply of buyers expanded. They know. But those who are desperate for you to make the same shitty choices they did are good at conveniently ignoring that fact. You have to be good at conveniently ignoring reality to make reproductive decisions based on the directions of (somewhat) celibate men."

So, torienne's second sentence reminded me of an Art Buchwald column my mother clipped, long ago, from the Herald Tribune (she didn't clip that many newspaper articles, which is one reason I remember this). I don't remember if I actually read it word for word, but I was a preteen at the time, so I couldn't quite appreciate it the way she did.

April 27, 1977

I walked into my son’s room as he was stretched out on his bed watching a basketball game on television.

"Son.” I said. ”I’d like to talk to you about the American dream."

"Yes, Dad."

"Remember when I told you a few years ago that same day you
would have everything you ever wanted in life, thanks to the
American dream?”

"Yes, Dad,” he said, "and I’ve been counting on it ever since.”

"Well, son, I just heard President Carter talk about energy on TV
and he said no one can count on the American dream any more.
It’s a whole new ball game, and we’re going to have to make
sacrifices and give up many things that we’ve gotten used to.”

"Why us, Dad?” my son asked.

"Because we’re consumers, son. We’re using up energy faster
than it can be produced. We’re slothful, wasteful people who
haven’t given a thought to the future.”

"But we’re Americans, Dad,” he said.

"I know. It’s hard to believe Americans would do anything bad,
but it turns out even America is running out of fuel much faster
than we ever dreamed we would. No one ever thought it would
happen to the good guys. Son. T don’t know how to tell you this,
but someday, when you become successful and achieve the
wherewithal to enjoy the fruits of your labor, you will probably
not be able to buy a large Cadillac.”

My son bit his lip to keep from crying. "But you promised,” he cried.

"I know I promised you a Cadillac but it isn’t my fault I can’t deliver.
Despite its power and greatness, this country can no longer afford
the luxury of gas guzzlers that only get 12 miles to the gallon. You’re
going to have to be satisfied with a small car which Detroit will have to
make if we are to survive as a viable and free nation.”

"How small?” he wanted to know.

"Very small,” I told him.

"But that isn’t all. Someday you’re going to get married and have a
wife and children.”

"I remember you telling me that,” my son replied. "And you said that if I
worked hard and married well. T could have a heated swimming pool.”

"Well, son, you can still have the children, but by then I doubt if you can install the heated swimming pool.”

"Why would I want kids if I can’t have a heated swimming pool?”

"They can swim in an unheated pool. It’s actually not bad when you get
used to it.”

"The next thing you’re going to tell me is that when I grow up there won’t
be electric golf carts and I’ll have to walk the entire 18 holes.”

"It could come to that,” I admitted, "though the president didn’t mention
anything about electric golf carts. There is a certainty, though, that
our homes will be colder in the winter and hotter in the summer. And
you may have to give up electrical appliances such as can openers.”

"You mean I’m going to have to open up cans manually?”

"It can be done,” I assured him.

"What about my stereo set?" he demanded.

"You could be limited to four speakers.”

"What kind of American dream is that when each person has only
four speakers?”

"It’s not the America anyone has known in the past. But our survival
depends on conservation, and whether anyone likes it or not we’re
going to have to give up the things we hold dearest to us — like
snowmobiles and lighted tennis courts and throw-away razors. God
knows I’ve worked and scraped so you could have everything you
wanted in life. But it just wasn’t meant to be. Do you think any one of
us ever imagined that someday our children would have to take a bus?”

"A bus!” he yelled.

"I was saving that for last.”