"In the US, it used to be that every year you could expect to be wealthier. Your purchasing power grew over time: you could afford things you couldn’t the year

"In the US, it used to be that every year you could expect to be wealthier. Your purchasing power grew over time: you could afford things you couldn’t the year before. Your salary increase every year outpaced inflation." I think the author is from a different socio-economic-status than me. My parents didn't believe they were going to be wealthier year after year. My grandfather (i lived with my grandparents) cut sheet metal for a living. I remember my life being pretty good when I was little, then the recession of the 80's hit, and we were on food stamps. Certainly not better year after year. Maybe that was a fluke, but if I go back one more generation, my great grandmother lived through the great depression. She didn't believe she would be better off year after year. In fact, she was super paranoid about the opposite happening. She used to hide food around the house "just in case". Also, no one in my family got a salary, maybe that is a give away to the different americas we seem to have grown up in. Sorry, I have a hard time with "essays" where the first paragraph seems false to me.