I used to tell my daughters in the 1980’s that the average american eats better food than the rich did a century ago.
There were a few intangible’s that they missed though:
1) A husband was assumed by law to be head of household, that was the natural Christian order and the law reflected that. Today ...not so much and the social situation reflects that, no to anyone’s advantage.
2) The idea that a mans house was his castle was still observed in 1916 law, there were actual areas the state was kept out of life. Police did not have SWAT teams, nor did overwhelming security state that exists today stick its nose in every bodies business. The idea that someone would be stripped searched to travel across the country in a public conveyance did not exist.
3) Because of the 90 % European stock and a resultant monoculture , in 1916 a women was much safer from a whole range of crimes than today. Many urban areas are no-go regions for folks who do not represent that particular sub culture.
4) The Justice system had not been corrupted as it is today, in those days it reflected the agreed upon values of the predominate WASP culture. Murder somebody and get caught, 30~40 days later you were likely dead. Do an extremely heinous crime and the law would pretty much allow the crowd to deal with it in the same time interval.
5) the Culture had not been debased in 1916. The idea in 1916 was entirely towards refining culture, actors were somewhat shady folks, certainly not looked to for setting standards like today. If there was light music available in public it was likely moonlight sonata or some popular ditty that was inoffensive. Today the popular music is pretty dreadful, such songs and “bitch better have my money” being the norm. How has it come to pass that degraded negro music has displaced the European classical music and its derivatives?
6) Christianity was not under attack, in an attempt to push all sort of deviant lifestyles.
Of course the above can be looked at as double edged swords, some folks would take exception to the above list. Nonetheless on reflection I think we would be better of today were the culture more in line with 1916 than with 2017, at least in most areas. So while there is no doubt we are materially much better of in 2016 than in 1916, on a cultural, legal, religious and a significant number of non-material aspects, US society is worse than in 1916.
Only in America can you find a high percentage of the poor are overweight?
I’ll settle for living 10 years ago and being worth 100 million even after inflation.
Impossible! They didn't have Doritos back then!
...Coca-Cola. Wait a minute...
Yeah, it was horrible: farm-fresh produce and grass fed cattle and poultry. Fruit in season and home canned for winter. Fish and game for variety, unsanctioned whole milk and real churned butter. A hundred varieties of apples and tomatoes with tastes and textures unimaginable in today’s markets; real smoked ham and bacon, homemade sausage with eggs that had as much yellow as saffron.
Yeah, our modern palette of mass-produced monoculture and processed foods is quite the culinary pinnacle. Bread made without nutritional value; fruits and veggies solely designed designed for transport and storage; and “meat” made from spare parts and less than 30% ‘broth’ seemingly composed of a chemistry lab accident.
Umm umm, that Rocker feller never had it so good. Heck, he probably only had a French master chef and only a dozen or so junior cooks from all over the world.
Just look at the health benefits, too! My, our modern diet has produced the fattest population in history. You just can’t argue with progress.