"Before that, you had a full time job, you can take care of yourself. Hell before 1980, you could graduate high school, go down to the mill, get a job with no experience or skills, buy a damn house, a car and raise a family on that job."
Economics, my friend.
After WWII, the US was the last industrialized economy left on the planet. If you wanted a TV, or a refrigerator, or a blender, or a bulldozer, you bought something that was manufatured in the US. This gave labor a lot of pricing power, as the costs were just passed on to consumers.
As Europe and Asia rebuilt and rejoined the global marketplace, competition increased. Firms worldwide were now competing for the same customers. US firms had to lower costs in order to remain competitive, which meant lower wages.
Additionally, increasing automation drove a shift from more unskilled workers to fewer skilled workers managing tasks that low-skilled workers would have previously accomplished. This further drove down wages for unskilled workers.
What you're not taking into account is that, adjusted for inflation, consumer goods were far more expensive in the three decades following the end of WWII. In 1960, the purchase of something as (currently) insignificant as a blender or a toaster would have been a significant expense. Which is why during that time there were so many different types of repair operations. If your TV broke, you'd take it in to get it fixed. Today you would dump it and get a new TV. You couldn't really do that if you had shelled out $3k (2022$) for a television.
