>Seems like people are having more disposable income and higher standards for quality of experiences. I think so too, but that's just my perspective. I'm from

>Seems like people are having more disposable income and higher standards for quality of experiences. I think so too, but that's just my perspective. I'm from a former Soviet Union country and grew up after its collapse. Perhaps the (relative to the US) poverty we had ended up being treated differently from the poverty that's in the US? Eg we were poor enough that fast food wasn't abundantly available. Maybe once we're as rich as the US is right now we will have the same problem as the US does with poverty and fast food. That being said, shen people are really poor they still get by. They will find a way. 200 years ago almost everyone (excluding nobility) lived on about $2-3 a day in 1990s money. That's like two coffees at a coffee shop. People just lived differently and usually worse lives. Also, coffee shops weren't really a thing here until about the last decade or so. You could buy coffee at gas stations, but there weren't these fancy coffee shops.