We've sacrificed our quality of life? Are you serious? Oh yes, we had it SO much better in 1955, right? Our quality of life was so much higher!
By the way, what percentage of people owned two or more cars in 1955? What about now? What was the size, in square feet, of a home built in 1955? What about today? How many people owned two or more television sets in 1955? How many today? How many people had a microwave oven in 1955?
How many people went down into coal mines every day--breathing in coal dust and facing serious risk of cave-ins or explosions in 1955? How many people do that today?
What percentage of people had white collar jobs in 1955? What about today? Seriously: by what standard do you believe people before today had a better quality of life?
Cheers!