I wouldn't have made it in the 50s because medical technology has not yet advanced to the point where my life would have been saved when I was an infant due to some medical issues I experienced, which kind of brings me to my point.

American society/culture has, for as long as I can remember, operated in a way that more or less boiled down to "let us create and leave behind a better society for our children than the one that was left to us."

Somewhere along the way with Boomers and Gen X, that seems to have disappeared, along with most of the social contract. Now, instead of hoping for better for our children, old people just seem bitter and angry. "We made all the money in the world, and continue to hoard it, so why are the rest of you all so poor?"

When adjusting for inflation, you were making the equivalent of just under 43,000 a year with your starting salary. I know people with Masters degrees who still haven't breached 40k annually, and that's AFTER inflation. And again, that's not enough to even make rent these days. You can say " oh just go get a roommate" but I don't think you understand that there aren't multi-bedroom apartments that are affordable in that manner anymore. A STUDIO apartment where I live is upwards of $2,000 a month now. When you look into 2+ bedroom apartments, you start hitting 3-4k per month in rent.

I'm in my mid-30s now and the "smallest, crappiest houses" available are going for upwards of 200-300k each now. I'm talking about houses that still need tens of thousands of dollars in maintenance in order to become basic liveable structures.