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The overall lesson is clear: lives for Americans below the poverty line continue to get better in terms of what they are able to put in their households and have to make use of everyday. And do note that the average American household in 2005 was doing much better than its 1971 counterpart. MUCH better - and this doesn't even count medical advances and the like. So whatever one hears about stagnating wages and the like, the bottom line is ultimately what we can afford to buy and have in our households to improve our lives. By those measures, life for the average American is better today than 35 years ago, life for poor Americans is much better than it was 35 years ago, and poor Americans today largely live better than the average American did 35 years ago. Hard to square with a narrative of economic stagnation or decline.
We all have that stuff but somehow life has not improved much from the "Leave it to Beaver" days in my view. We are all in debt, stressed out and worried about what will come in the mail tomorrow. We are working more hours and taking on more stress than ever- just trying to pay bills and keep a job. I agree that things like washers, dryers, dishwashers and microwaves have made life more convenient but did they give most of us more "quality time"?? No. The time you save with these things is just more time taken by your job.
We sure do treat our poor very well in this country. I don't think you could find a poor kid without a playstation or nintendo player with all the latest games. Plus they have unlimited food to eat. There's really no motivation to work for a living when you already have it all. It's the middle class that's being squeezed, not the poor and not the rich.
Thank you free market enterprise which has made these things cheaper while at the same time, better..
But also the so-called poor have not seen any cuts in food stamps, Medicaid, housing subsidies, WIC coupons and so on. It's the middle class being hit hard. Many things aren't better at all, they don't last more than a few years or months. The global economy is destroying the middle class but the welfare system keeps the living standard of the welfare class very high.
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