[hn_throwaway_99]

I think looking at a single metric is a mistake, though. Certainly, there was a lot more poverty, especially in areas where we've made giant strides, like elderly poverty. And we've made other huge strides in some areas of health, like reduction in smoking rates in the US.

But, if I look at my parents, who were raised in "average" middle-class families in the US, there are many ways today's families' "standard of living" is worse, despite the fact that they can buy a lot more shit. 2 simple examples:

1. There is a ton more obesity today, and it has a disastrous effect on standard of living.

2. There is a ton more anxiety about maintaining a standard of living. My grandfather worked for "Ma Bell" for 47 years and raised 4 kids on that single salary. They ate dinner together as a family every night. Today your "average" middle-class family has both parents working and still with a constant undercurrent of economic anxiety.

Look, I'm in no way arguing the 50s were some idyllic "Leave it to Beaver" utopia, but I am arguing that once you get to a "comfortable" middle class existence that focusing on "ability to buy more stuff" as the primary driver of "standard of living" is a mistake.

[lmm]

The '50s weren't when advertising was invented. They are, however, when planning laws were invented, artificially suppressing the housing supply and ensuring that as the population grows, a "comfortable" existence requires ever more struggle in order to be able to afford a place to live.

[Karrot_Kream]

Regarding #1 it's because our cities have become hopelessly auto dependent. In the 50s, much of the US was still walkable and nutrition was less easily available. It was hard to see what car dependence would do to human well-being and scaling human cities, but the US is trying to fix these mistakes piecemeal.

#2 was unique to the US. The rest of the world was either in shambles from colonialism or from WW2. Factories were destroyed and the US produced much of the world's manufacturing output. This temporarily gave a huge boost to American industry. As other countries recovered, competition became stiffer. Moreover the US labor market at the time was compromised almost completely of white men, so there was a lot less labor competition. The story was very different for others.