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Life has never been easier than today. I would choose today over 2000, 2000 over 1990, 1990 over 1980, 1980 over 1970, 1970 over 1960, 1960 over 1950, 1950 over 1940...
That's ridiculous. Life was better in 2000 for 80% of Americans with higher median incomes and more high-paying manufacturing jobs available. Most of the good jobs are now off shore due to horrific trade deals like NAFTA. You're living in your little bubble in Seattle and have no idea how bad it is for the rest of the country.
I can't wait until the NASDAQ bubble pops and you folks in Seattle and San Francisco lose 75% of your net worth in 3 months and your $1 million home plunges in value to $300,000. I will be lighting up my finest cigar and drinking my most expensive wine in celebration of this inevitable event
But wealth is not going to get you to the standard of living enjoyed today. A sandwich shop worker has a higher standard of living than a rich person in 57. AC, color TV, etc etc.
People don't really care about absolute standard of living. They care about it in relation to what other people have (even though they shouldn't care--most people do). If you have more than most other people, it gives you a boost in happiness (or so people believe--research bears this out to an extent).
In the 1950's, if you had a job, any job, you could afford a basic place to live and consumables. Today you have people who work full time who still rely on government handouts to get by.
But in 1957:
--People had more realistic expectations of what "basic" housing was. People have much more living space today than they did then.
--Despite much less availability of birth control, the out of wedlock birth rate, which traps many people in poverty or semi-poverty, was very low in 1957. Today, it's 40%.
50's--no question about it. With the provision that I wasn't drafted. To be 30 in 1969 would be the best situation I could think of. Anything after about 1984 is dull and uninspired. Mainstream culture is horrible and people have developed a disturbing apathy towards anything outside of their tiny little sphere of reality. I don't think America has improved at all. All these concessions to convenience have dumbed us down and made us lazy and uncaring. The 50's and 60's were the peak of our society in the USA. We are on the downside now. Sliding into Calcutta'dom
That's ridiculous. Life was better in 2000 for 80% of Americans with higher median incomes and more high-paying manufacturing jobs available. Most of the good jobs are now off shore due to horrific trade deals like NAFTA. You're living in your little bubble in Seattle and have no idea how bad it is for the rest of the country.
I can't wait until the NASDAQ bubble pops and you folks in Seattle and San Francisco lose 75% of your net worth in 3 months and your $1 million home plunges in value to $300,000. I will be lighting up my finest cigar and drinking my most expensive wine in celebration of this inevitable event
I'll be celebrating too because that means I can swoop in and buy a house on a fire sale.
People don't really care about absolute standard of living. They care about it in relation to what other people have (even though they shouldn't care--most people do). If you have more than most other people, it gives you a boost in happiness (or so people believe--research bears this out to an extent).
Renting is where your standard of living is partly a function of what other people have.
In the 1980s, my standard of living declined because my neighbors became became affluent and rents necessarily skyrocketed.
How can you say people shouldn't care what other people have when "what they have" impaired my standard of living?
--People had more realistic expectations of what "basic" housing was. People have much more living space today than they did then.
--Despite much less availability of birth control, the out of wedlock birth rate, which traps many people in poverty or semi-poverty, was very low in 1957. Today, it's 40%.
I'd love to see that broken down by income or wealth; homeowners and renters.
Those of us at the bottom are living in cramped spaces; I have successively lived in a 10-person house, an 8-person house, and now a 7-person house, with each house also becoming successively smaller in size.
How would an 18 year old have $74,000 and own a house, even in 1957? I was born in 1957 and my parents were well over 18 and they didn't own a house or have $74,000.
My high school girlfriend inherited a million dollars on her 18th birthday and first thing she did was buy a house on the Jersey Shore and sock away the remaining $900K.
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