> I rarely go to Walmart, but every few years I do in the USA, and it constantly blows my mind. The quantity, price and quality of 'stuff' in there ... you can

> I rarely go to Walmart, but every few years I do in the USA, and it constantly blows my mind. The quantity, price and quality of 'stuff' in there ... you can live extremely well compared to anyone in 1970 just off Walmart. Of course the companies making all this stuff and owning the retail chains were paying lower and lower wages, so they had to decrease the prices of goods through globalization to remain profitable and pay their C-suites ever increasing returns. That and soak people with usurious credit lines. Also, I doubt the nice, $400 flat screen TV is going to help much in paying your medical bills or keep you from getting evicted when the pandemic affects your health or your job. The broad, material circumstances of working people have little to do with whether they can own a cheap, good quality blender, but instead their overall tenuousness. There’s little in this regard that indicates that people are better off than in the 1970s.