Most Ordinary Americans in 2016 are richer than John D. Rockefeller was in 1916

Cafe Hayek ^ | February 20, 2016 | Don Boudreaux

[County Agent Hank Kimball]

Food for thought. For all the knee-jerk lamenting about "globalism," this provides good perspective from the other side.

Hank

[TBP]

Well, that’s definitely income inequality.

[Paladin2]

Were there any ski-lifts in Montana?

[faithhopecharity]

As measured in today’s nearly- worthless toilet paper currency, perhaps.

[Steely Tom]

All Rockefeller’s money couldn’t buy him an iPhone.

Or get him an MRI or a PET scan.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

Except that John D. Rockefeller’s descendants will be living off his money practically forever, just like his grandchildren and great-grandchildren do now.

In today’s money JDR was worth almost $700 billion. Nobody alive now is even close.

[who_would_fardels_bear]

"And no reggae."

Sign me up for a trip in the wayback machine!

[County Agent Hank Kimball]

Yeah....I had the same reaction to that one. But I manage to avoid any imposition of reggae into my day-to-day life, so if some enjoy, let ‘em.

Hank

[Squantos]

Paleo Diet .....:o)

[laplata]

In today’s money JDR was worth almost $700 billion. Nobody alive now is even close.

---

That’s right. I don’t think anyone in world history had been more wealthy than JDR.

[Southside_Chicago_Republican]

I am old enough to have lived without a lot of the comforts and conveniences he mentions. I personally don’t consider many of them to be necessities. I enjoy many of them but I could imagine living without them — again —even if I didn’t have Rockefeller’s fortune.

[Blue Jays]

I absolutely LOVE vacationing someplace with non-existent cellular coverage...and being able to honestly tell people that I will be absolutely unreachable for ten days. It is rejuvenating and wonderful.

[LesbianThespianGymnasticMidget]

Hi there guy making fun of flyover country. Love Love Love your screen name. It is so snarky it is funny. It bit you in the ass, as it did your GOPe brethren. Your tears taste like nectar.

[stocksthatgoup]

Money is almost worthless today compared to then.

[County Agent Hank Kimball]

You seem a little bit unbalanced. This was a posting about nothing relating to the election.

Are you ok?

Hank

[Jeff Chandler]

I personally don’t consider many of them to be necessities.

Except for the medical advances, most of what the article discusses are not an issue, really.

[County Agent Hank Kimball]

Of course they aren’t necessities. Indoor plumbing isn’t a necessity, strictly speaking. The point concerns standard of living. All the things he discusses make like easier, more fulfilling and longer.

Hank

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

Under Obama, I AM LIVING like a 1916’s poor person, but I wasn’t that way before him.

I can’t even afford the price of a wooden barrel to wear when my pants wear out. Maybe I can borrow one of Michelle’s burqa dresses and make some clothes out of it.

[HiTech RedNeck]

That bad huh. How about the common wealth which didn’t exist then for everybody, if not only for the rich? Good sanitation? Food which you can count on not to send you to the grave except by gross overindulgence? Telephones? Internet? Television?

[LesbianThespianGymnasticMidget]

Just fine. Floating your resume?