Rich or poor, all Americans live life of abundance

A few weeks ago, my father and I attended a family reunion in Olney, Ill. On the way, we visited a town of 1,100 called West Salem. I'm pleased to say it was founded in 1844 by my great-great-great-grandfather, a preacher of the Moravian Church named Martin Houser. He is honored at the cemetery by a large arch, constructed by his grandchildren in 1919.

By sheer chance, we met a genealogist who lives to share data. One of her documents provides Martin's account of life in the 1840s and '50s. In case you didn't know, it was painfully hard.

For example, there was no defense against disease. In 1854, measles struck the town, killing 12 of 84 residents. As the summer was exceptionally hot (global warming, I'm sure), the townspeople had to bury the dead by nightfall.

Loaded down with cell phone, camera, voice recorder and laptop computer, I got a stark reminder of just how well-off we Americans are today. And I mean all Americans. The poorest of us enjoy luxuries that kings of 100 years ago never imagined.

Even our convicted murderers have it good. I read recently that prisoners on Death Row at San Quentin, Calif., live better than 50 percent of all the people in the entire world.

As for the poor Islamists we are "torturing" at Gulag Guantanamo? They eat better than they've ever eaten in their life. Their average weight gain is 18 pounds.

The libertarian Cato Institute has produced a report documenting our life of luxury. It's titled "The Greatest Century That Ever Was: 25 Miraculous Trends of the Past 100 Years." Here are some of its points:

People didn't die of cancer in the old days. That's because they didn't live long enough to contract it. Instead, they died of tuberculosis, polio, typhoid and pneumonia. In 1900, the average life span was 47 years. Today, it's more than 77.

Back then, parents worried their children would not live to age 1. One in 10 did not. Now parents worry their kids won't make it to a good college.

The American worker makes much more than he used to, and, yes, that's in constant dollars. In 1909, the typical hourly wage was $3.43. In 1950, it was $9.70. Last year it was $15.70.

In 1950, more than 30 percent of Americans were classified as poor. Today the figure is 10 percent to 15 percent — with a poverty level that Democrats set artificially high for political purposes.

Today, even the poor have a bewildering array of comforts. "More than 98 percent of American homes have a telephone, electricity and a flush toilet," the study says. "More than 70 percent of Americans own a car, a VCR, a microwave, air conditioning, cable TV, and a washer and dryer." In 1900, almost no homes had such conveniences.

In 1998, the study says, an American worker with an $800 Pentium-chip laptop had more computer power at his fingertips than was contained in all the computers in all the world in World War II.

Even in 1976, the typical computer processed just 20,000 instructions per second. In 1998, it processed 700 million. That means it was 35,000 times faster.

Applying Moore's Law, which says processor speeds double every 18 months, we see a new computer in 2005 is not 35,000 times faster than a computer from 1976 — it's 163,000 times faster. And for $500!

Running for vice president last year, John Edwards said there are two Americas: a rich one and a poor one. Not really. There are three. One is incredibly well-off. One is nicely well-off. The third has to settle for just well-off.

You can call that injustice if you want. I don't. I call it prosperity never before seen in human history.

In America, poor means starting at Wal-Mart for $10 an hour. That's $19,500 a year. Granted, I wouldn't want to live on such a salary. But I'm older than I look. If I were right out of high school, it wouldn't sound too bad at all.

Furthermore, look what happens if you marry a co-worker. Your household income leaps to $39,000. Meanwhile, expenses plunge. Two people in one household live for 60 percent of the cost of two people in two households.

Now, if your expenses drop by 40 percent, that sounds to me like a 40 percent gain in your standard of living. In essence, the two of you are living as if you earned $54,600.

Now go to the Web site "globalrichlist" and type in $39,000. Guess what. Your new household income ranks in the top 4 percent of all the people in the world. Only 72 million people make more than you do. Almost 6 billion make less. And you didn't even have to go to college.

So excuse me if I don't get too worked up about how bad we're supposed to have it under mean old George Bush. In 1854, America, poor meant walking a mile for water. In 2005 America, poor means you have a slick cell phone but not a Wi-Fi laptop.

America is a nation where the poor face a serious obesity problem. The masses of undernourished people in nations that truly are stricken, such as Ethiopia and Malawi, must be dumbfounded.

Michael Bowers is a copy editor and page designer for The Star. Send e-mail to mbowers@starnewspapers.com.

Received this a couple of years ago:

Here are some of the U.S. statistics for 1904:

The average life expectancy in the U.S. was 47 years.

Only 14 percent of the homes in the U.S. had a bathtub.

Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone.

A three-minute call from Denver to New York City cost eleven dollars

There were only 8,000 cars in the U.S., and only 144 miles of paved roads.

The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.

Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa, and Tennessee were each more heavily populated than California.

With a mere 1.4 million residents, California was only the 21st most populous state in the Union.

The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower! The average wage in the U.S. was 22 cents an hour.

The average U.S. worker made between $200 and $400 per year.

A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year, a dentist $2,500 per year, a veterinarian between $1,500 and $4,000 per year, and a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.

More than 95 percent of all births in the U.S. took place at home.

Ninety percent of all U.S. physicians had no college education.

Instead, they attended medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press and by the government as "substandard."

Sugar cost four cents a pound.

Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen.

Coffee was fifteen cents a pound. Most women only washed their hair once a month, and used borax or egg yolks for shampoo.

Canada passed a law prohibiting poor people from entering the country for any reason.

The five leading causes of death in the U.S. were:

1. Pneumonia and influenza

2. Tuberculosis

3. Diarrhea

4. Heart disease

5. Stroke

The American flag had 45 stars.

Arizona, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Hawaii, and Alaska hadn't been admitted to the Union yet.

The population of Las Vegas, Nevada, was 30!!!

Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and iced tea hadn't been invented.

There was no Mother's Day or Father's Day.

Two of 10 U.S. adults couldn't read or write.

Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated high school.

Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at corner drugstores.

According to one pharmacist, "Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach and bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health." (Shocking!)

Eighteen percent of households in the U.S had at least one full-time servant or domestic.

There were only about 230 reported murders in the entire U.S.

I did not know that. $15.70 is the average wage today? I'm not disputing that, I just did not know how that was arrived at. At first I thought you were talking about minimum wage but you are not. Frankly, I know several typical people who are glad to be making the $9.70 - $10.00 range. They are relieved to have a job at all after losing their $15.00 an hour job to downsizing, out sourcing, etc.>>>>>

I will never vote for another Democrat for President but that does not stop me from seeing reality. I myself am glad to be making just over $11.00 an hour even though I used to make many times that. In this area we have reached the point that anything over 12 dollars an hour is considered very good and yet the figures I see say that the minimum wage would need to be raised nearly to eight dollars an hour to equal the buying power of the 1963 minimum of 1.25 an hour. My own opinion is that the truth is much worse than that even. We certainly are better off than in 1900 but are we better off than in 1995? I don't think so, at least in terms of the average worker's buying power. I saw a report just a couple of days ago which said that the median income in the San Francisco bay area is $90,000 plus change, this sounds great until you read that the median single family home costs more than ten times that annual income. I remember a time when high school graduates routinely married, bought houses and had children in first grade before the age of thirty. This is almost an impossibility now.

The article is definitely biased...some of these points have been pointed out already, but bear repeating -

What’s puzzling is statements like this: “Today, even the poor have a bewildering array of comforts. “More than 98 percent of American homes have a telephone, electricity and a flush toilet” - Like the building codes would LET a person build a house without the wiring and plumbing?????

Or “’More than 70 percent of Americans own a car, a VCR, a microwave, air conditioning, cable TV, and a washer and dryer.’ In 1900, almost no homes had such conveniences.” No, In 1900, most people had what WE’D consider luxuries now: HORSES/buggies, (and weren’t required to have insurance on them!), and a FIREPLACE. How many homes have horses/buggies and fireplaces now??? (the microwave, air conditioning, cable TV, and washer/dryer are moot points - they hadn’t been invented yet - but I bet everyone had a WASHBOARD, lol)
So much of what we have now is GOVERNMENT MANDATED.

One more point those who write such reports fail to mention: if THEY consider a phone and a car necessities, aren’t they JUST AS MUCH of a necessity to EVERYONE ELSE?

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