<story><title>How could Al Bundy afford a house when he was making minimum wage?</title><url>https://old.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/ggozng/in_the_sitcom_married_with_children_protagonist/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>probably_wrong</author><text>I think a similar analysis could be made of The Simpsons, which (as the post mentions) started around the same time. While later retconned, it used to be the case that Homer could afford a house and sustain a family as the sole breadwinner and without a college degree.&lt;p&gt;Edit 1 hour later: looks like the fine folks at &amp;#x2F;r&amp;#x2F;askhistorians have answered that too: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;old.reddit.com&amp;#x2F;r&amp;#x2F;AskHistorians&amp;#x2F;comments&amp;#x2F;ol1uv6&amp;#x2F;the_simpson_family_was_supposed_to_represent_the&amp;#x2F;h5c740t&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;old.reddit.com&amp;#x2F;r&amp;#x2F;AskHistorians&amp;#x2F;comments&amp;#x2F;ol1uv6&amp;#x2F;the_s...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>sien</author><text>From Austan Goolsbee President &amp;amp; CEO, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago :&lt;p&gt;This combines 2 things that tick me off: not checking data &amp;amp; not knowing The Simpsons&lt;p&gt;2023: Nuclear technician salary in IL: $93,210&lt;p&gt;4 bedroom house in Springfield IL: $220,000&lt;p&gt;Burns illegally put him in a job req. a nuclear phys degree so he went to college in season 5 ep. 3&lt;p&gt;source:&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;twitter.com&amp;#x2F;Austan_Goolsbee&amp;#x2F;status&amp;#x2F;1673901188528439296&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;twitter.com&amp;#x2F;Austan_Goolsbee&amp;#x2F;status&amp;#x2F;16739011885284392...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>How could Al Bundy afford a house when he was making minimum wage?</title><url>https://old.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/ggozng/in_the_sitcom_married_with_children_protagonist/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>probably_wrong</author><text>I think a similar analysis could be made of The Simpsons, which (as the post mentions) started around the same time. While later retconned, it used to be the case that Homer could afford a house and sustain a family as the sole breadwinner and without a college degree.&lt;p&gt;Edit 1 hour later: looks like the fine folks at &amp;#x2F;r&amp;#x2F;askhistorians have answered that too: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;old.reddit.com&amp;#x2F;r&amp;#x2F;AskHistorians&amp;#x2F;comments&amp;#x2F;ol1uv6&amp;#x2F;the_simpson_family_was_supposed_to_represent_the&amp;#x2F;h5c740t&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;old.reddit.com&amp;#x2F;r&amp;#x2F;AskHistorians&amp;#x2F;comments&amp;#x2F;ol1uv6&amp;#x2F;the_s...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>tptacek</author><text>It was a throwaway gag on the Tracey Ullman show; I doubt much thought was put into the &amp;quot;interchangeable suburban house&amp;quot; they came up with, or Homer&amp;#x27;s income as a nuclear plant technician.</text></comment>