- We live in an age of negativity. Many pine for days gone by. Still, by almost every objective measure, Americans are more prosperous, with greater longevity and more opportunities than ever before.
A few years ago, a friend of mine told me that America was more divided than at any time in history. I swiftly reminded her of the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, Jim Crow and the Civil Rights era. In recent months, I’ve witnessed a lot of teeth gnashing over the financial wellbeing of Americans, and a sort of pining nostalgia for decades past.
The refrain sounds something like this, “my grandparents raised five kids in a paid off house on one salary.”
People engaged in this type of unfair comparison, “Leave it to Beaver” the past, while dramatizing the present. By almost every objective measure, Americans are more prosperous, with more opportunities than before.
Some points to consider:
People earn more dollars today, adjusted for inflation. The median household income in 1950 was less than half of the current median. Even people in the lowest quintile of income have experienced real wage growth.
People live longer today. The average person lived 68 years in 1950. By 2019, we’d gained 11 years of life. Infant mortality has been cut in half in the last fifty years. While our healthcare system is expensive, developments in the field have dramatically prolonged and improved lives.
People live more opulently today. The average home in 1950 was under 1,000 square feet. Today, the average home is almost 2,500 square feet, features hardwood floors, granite countertops, and multiple bathrooms. The number of two-vehicle households has doubled since 1950.
People have more free time today. The average worker works 8 hours less every week now compared to the 1960s and engages in 7 hours a week more leisure activity. This additional leisure time is the equivalent of 7 weeks of vacation time. Leisure budgets have more than tripled since the 1960s, even when adjusted for inflation.
Most of the products we rely on are cheaper on a relative basis to income today. Consumer goods Americans rely on have become much cheaper, with better technology and more reliability. As an example, the average annual rate of deflation on a television between 1950 and today was 6.53%. Computers used to take up entire rooms. Today, we have a more powerful one in our pockets that doubles as a phone.
Seeing the Good in Life
In short, we have more money, more time, live longer, travel and engage in leisure more freely, have bigger houses, more cars and more stuff. There are, of course, sectors where inflation has been more significant. Housing, higher education, and healthcare. (It’s no coincidence that these spaces are some of the most highly regulated and highly subsidized by government).
But on net, we are far better off financially, and this is true not just for the “wealthy” we like to demonize. Much of our negativity about our station in life comes from two things — a deficiency mindset and envy. A deficiency mindset focuses on what we don’t have, instead of focusing on what we do. Envy, simply enough, is a “keeping up with the Joneses” problem.
It bears acknowledging that past performance is not indicative of future success. There are certainly challenges that could derail the tremendous progress made over the last 50-70 years in the standard of living if not handled wisely.
It’s also worth recognizing that material well-being, leisure and longevity are not a perfect measure of “whole person” well-being. The decline in religion, nuclear families, and civil institutions that once bound communities together is a negative. I would caution, though, about over romanticizing the past. There are real markers of meaningful social progress since the 50s and 60s. Consider that minority groups were still being lynched and denied the right to vote during that period.
We live in an age where we are constantly bombarded with a message that life sucks. And it’s someone else’s fault. Politicians, on both sides of the aisle, message that way because discord and division are effective motivators.
Resolve in 2025 to rediscover gratitude. A grateful heart is an optimistic heart, and an optimistic heart can overcome challenges to accomplish big things.
Russ Latino
