only if by "better off" you mean we have more material possessions. "easy and affordable access to education and medical care and medicine" Most of your point

only if by "better off" you mean we have more material possessions. "easy and affordable access to education and medical care and medicine" Most of your points are fair, but I don't this one is. "we have more of everything including health and well-being" How are you measuring well being? I'll bet a lot of people today, even those that are upper middle class, have equal or more stress. "How many people back then " Why compare america of today with monarchies of the past? Why not compare america of today with other industrialized countries? In terms of the plight of the poor we look pretty bad compared to other modern countries.