Easy Credit

My father has often told me he remembers the days when standard auto loans were for 24 months. He remembers when loan terms were stretched to 36 months. These days, standard auto loans are for 60, 72, and even 84 months. In the housing market, prior to the economic collapse of 2008, it became easier and easier to get a mortgage loan. Credit standards were greatly lowered. It was possible to get loans for 150% of your income. Why did we all get easy credit? Some would say the banks got greedy, and that may be part of it, but the major reason credit got easier is because worker pay has not increased markedly over the last 45 years or so. When factored for inflation, worker pay stagnated in the early 1970s. At the same time, we switched over from an economy driven by our manufacturing exports to one driven by consumer spending. Consumers can't spend if they don't have money. Employers weren't raising pay so banks had to extend easier credit terms. By not addressing employer pay, we're not addressing the real problems with the US economy. Concentrating the wealth at the top is screwing us all over in more ways than one.