These statements about 'absolute living standards' are utter crap because they absolutely ignore the law of rent. Simply stated the more people in a given city

These statements about 'absolute living standards' are utter crap because they absolutely ignore the law of rent. Simply stated the more people in a given city make the higher the rents, fees and cost of living in general. The more the middle class makes the more is taken away from them. Middle class then keeps only paying fees left and right and witnessing ever increasing poverty around them. The resulting state of prospering areas filled with poverty has been called the paradox of progress and poverty because the more prosperous area you have the more homelessness and disgusting living conditions you find. Whether it is San Francisco with their smelly homeless neighborhoods, Hong Kong with 4sqft apartments or London during industrial revolution as described by Dickens in Oliver Twist. Sadly the 'absolute living standard' fairy tale is perpetuated by people on the economical right which makes anyone on the left dismiss anything further they say. (I'm on the right myself, but this crap infuriates me). The relevant items to study in order to understand this effect 1. Law of Rent by David Ricardo 2. Henry George theorem