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That depends on what you mean by yesteryear. Real wages are lower in the US today than they were a decade ago. If yesteryear means a thousand years ago then yes, we are living better than kings and queens of yesteryear.
Just look at the dinky little houses entire families lived in during the 1950's. Houses that they could *afford*. My parents managed to pay up-front for their second house in Tucson, AZ (about $10,000 as I recall) and he was in the Air Force and she was a nurse. That was two bedrooms, one bath, no basement and no garage.
Now it seems no one is happy unless they have three bedrooms, two baths, a big kitchen and living room and a two-car garage which runs over $200,000 around here and generally requires about a 20 year mortgage.
I think that if people lived without so much debt, like people did in the 50's, they'd be better off.
As for "real" wages, I don't know your comparison index. If it is television size, then no way, we are much better off today.
If it is a food or real estate price index, then "real" wages are always and forever going to go down. More people are competing for land use and the food supply being grown on what land is left for farming.





Member since:
2006-01-02
We do live like kings and queens, compared to the kings and queens of yesteryear. It just happens that the wealthy and powerful are also living relatively better off than before, so it gives us the illusion that we are still living in a craphole, when we are not.