real wages arent any higher than 1973 peak. prior to that i believe real wages rose for 150 years in america. it was unprecedented. people thought hte country was blessed by god because every year their standard of living rose.
so i cant recall specifically what happened that a single parent cant support a family anymore, but i would guess govt not funding services the way it used to like student debt, people borrowing more and more for property driving up the costs of housing, and then you have immigration, automation, womens entering the workforce, and globalization which prevented real wages from rising. your govt has been captured by money so youre going to have price gouging in certain sectors like healthcare.