If you had the displeasure of perusing through the social media site formerly known as Twitter over the recent Thanksgiving holiday, you’ve probably witnessed some of the least grateful people in America. Their X posts are some variation of the meme, “A factory worker used to be able to afford the middle-class lifestyle of homeownership, two cars, a dozen children, a stay-at-home wife, and annual vacations — all on a single income!”

This meme is nothing short of a historical fantasy, an economic distortion no less dishonest than the 1619 Project. For good reason, much of the online pushback has focused on the historical living standards wrought by the average household: From roughly the end of the Civil War until after World War II, the majority of Americans did not own their homes. The average family crammed into a house or apartment of fewer than 1,000 square feet, from the start of the Republic until, again, after World War II. None of this is to mention that in that halcyon decade after World War II, one in five households lacked indoor plumbing, and virtually no households had two cars.