We live in a time of astonishing wealth. Go to any big box store, like Costco or Walmart, and think about the shelves stocked with food and every item imaginable. When I did my MBA I discovered that Walmart had over 200,000 products. The average store stocked 70,000. Now realize that there are thousands of those stores worldwide, each one stocked. We live in a country where the “poor” can be grossly obese. Probably several times a week I think about how fortunate we are to be living here and now.
So, what is it half the people are missing? A new car? When I got my first job some of the other bagboys went out and bought Corvettes. I don’t recall how new they were, but they were Corvettes. Pretty much, we live in a time when the average person lives better and longer than kings did just 100 years ago. God bless air-conditioning and refrigeration. Tonight I will have food somebody else prepared in a factory half a world away. Poor? No.
So, what is it half the people are missing? A new car? When I got my first job some of the other bagboys went out and bought Corvettes. I don’t recall how new they were, but they were Corvettes. Pretty much, we live in a time when the average person lives better and longer than kings did just 100 years ago. God bless air-conditioning and refrigeration. Tonight I will have food somebody else prepared in a factory half a world away. Poor? No.
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Excellent post. Fresh strawberries or oranges in the middle of Winter. Something only a king could have afforded a hundred years ago.
Air conditioning is a true modern miracle.
I remember very few people in the 70s having more than a window unit.
Going to the 80s, a lot more central air.
The average American secretary would have to think long and hard about living at Queen Victoria’s standard of living.Victoria had no ability to travel globally, comparatively no health care as we know it, nothing made of plastic, no electronic entertainment . . .
Obviously being Queen has its upsides - but her husband died younger than he would have with modern medicine, and she was a depressed widow for her last 20 years.
Why socialists need capitalism (to create all the new things, like cell phones, that socialists can say “everyone has a right” to).