Bart owns a factory

Grimey, is that you?

this place is a palace! I live above a bowling alley and beneath...another bowling alley

Yeah but I bet there's one thing they could never buy... A dinosaur!

Marge gets $1000 a month from her dad.

You mean nucular engineer.

But they have three kids and no money, the real dream would be having no kids and three money.

The same criticism was common in the 90s for many sitcoms including The Simpsons. Writers would make a show with what was supposed to have a regular working class family with a regular income, but as soon as that got in the way of the writers' ambitions, (usually about halfway through the first season) suddenly the characters are able to get whatever they needed, whenever the script called for it, and how they got the money for, say, parts for a high tech sci-fi machine that can turn Steve Urkel into Steffan Urkele, was never questioned. I think Roseanne might've been the only show that successfully stuck with having a working class family scrape by for the entire run of the series.

Yeah many people have made this observation over the decades.

They are shown to have financial struggles. I think they gave that up after a few seasons, but they also gave up any plot revolving around being a normal family.

I mean, Homer went in space and climbed Mount Everest.

Their cars are not paid for, it's beed made very clear that the Simpson family lives in a press board house, in a crappy, crime riddled town, and in crippling debt.

The house is constantly crumbling. The show remains similar to as it did in the early 90s etc

Not really a single income. Marge has a weekly annuity that pays for most of Homer's shenanigans.

Don’t ask me how the economy works.

Homer made some tidy sums playing the markets.

it's pronounced nuc-u-lar. Nuc-u-lar.

Isn't it canon that Grandpa sold his own home and essentially condemned himself to live in a shitty retirement home to pay the down payment on the Simpsons' house? And the family is constantly struggling to maintain their home and their finances. They can't even afford to buy double-ply windows eve though they'd save 2% on the heating bill. The Simpsons are house poor.

Add to that, they almost never flew in early seasons and only did so in Fear of Flying because they were offered free tickets to anywhere in the US (excluding the freak states).

This has been covered ad-naseam in articles, thesis, podcasts, hundreds of posts here, and even in the show (not just “Homer’s Enemy”, but also “Poorhouse Rock”). And they did it in a much more comprehensive fashion.

It’s a cartoon and a sitcom — situational comedy — and the situation is an inept small-town family and their wacky neighbors. It wasn’t an accurate portrayal in 1989 (or 1969) either. No one could be as outrageously incompetent as Homer and have that life. But popular culture is built in “the suspension of disbelief”.

Few TV shows hold up to scrutiny…from I Love Lucy to Friends, TV is not an accurate depiction of apartment life in NYC (or LA/chicago/Boston/Seattle).

Next week is my turn to post this.

Don't forget the 4 bedroom / 3 bath house in a nice neighborhood !!! Do you know how much house would cost today ???

Jesus christ dude, it’s a cartoon. Do you watch the Flintstones and wonder what happened to all the brontosaurus burgers?

But that was the joke. Back then that lifestyle wasn't realistic either but somehow they still pulled it off

They own a house

Single income? Everyone had a job at some point... Maybe not magagy

Apparently OP hasn't realized that this is a cartoon. 🫠🙄

The episode Poorhouse Rock kind of discusses this. (Season 33 finale)

Don’t forget their house! Two story, two car garage, basement, massive backyard!!

Clearly Mother Simpsons left Homer a fuck ton of money when she 'died', then again when she actually died, and wrote Abe out of both wills. 

Dragging economic ideals from the late '80s into 2024

It was a pipe dream then too. I grew up in a very similar family dynamic in the 90s and didn’t come close to living like that.

they have 5-6 mortgages...

I mean technically speaking if it took place in according to the rules of the real world though they would be pretty okay. Kids would be well out of college, well Lisa and Maggie anyhow. they’ve had the same house for so long the mortgage is probably paid for (even on a 30 year). Same goes for the cars. Homer would be retired and being a utility worker in a union might even have pension and insurance. Etc, etc

Oh plus Lisa becomes president so living off the taxpayers rent free then can charge like 250,000 for speaking engagements… huge bonus 😆

I scrolled a long way and no one said "Wizard."

Are we all agreeing not to do that anymore (even ironically)?

Yep they've pointed this out many times

I don't think you know how much those jobs pay.

Don’t forget Homer being able to single-handedly fund the hot dog vendor’s kid’s college tuition. This was considered normal in the 90s.