Standard of living is an interesting measure.
By definition, your future is describing a lower standard of living. Standards are:
income
quality and availability of employment
class disparity
poverty rate
quality and affordability of housing (For related reading, see Mortgages: How Much Can You Afford?)
hours of work required to purchase necessities
gross domestic product (GDP) (For more insight, see Don’t Be Misled By Gross National Product.)
inflation rate (See our Inflation tutorial for more.)
number of paid vacation days per year
affordable access to quality health care
quality and availability of education
life expectancy
incidence of disease
cost of goods and services
infrastructure
national economic growth
economic and political stability
political and religious freedom
environmental quality
climate
safety
Increased “Free Trade” has not made necessities cheaper except perhaps clothing. Look at food, healthcare, housing and the ability to pay for those with a falling or stagnant wage.
Most American’s standard of living is going down not up.
Read more: Standard Of Living Vs. Quality Of Life | Investopedia http://www.investopedia.com/articles/financial-theory/08/standard-of-living-quality-of-life.asp#ixzz3zzdsFrTM
“Most American’s standard of living is going down not up.”
That is what I said. And it will keep going down unless we build/provide stuff and services that others can’t. It’s unavoidable.
“Look at food, healthcare, housing and the ability to pay for those with a falling or stagnant wage.”
You’re making my point. Those last two are about the only things that are not imported and can’t be imported. And given all the government program no one goes without them. And food would be a lot more expensive without the imported labor.
As for “necessities”, nowdays a smartphone a computer a wide screen TV are considered necessities.