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Aren't you kind of overstating this? Perhaps for countries like India, which have seen massive increases in real wages and a corresponding rise out of poverty.

Aren't you kind of overstating this? Perhaps for countries like India, which have seen massive increases in real wages and a corresponding rise out of poverty. In the US, the generation after the Greatest Gen (targeted here) was the Boomers, who made a lot more money and had a lot more opportunities. Since then, we've seen a massive rise in inequality, a wipeout of civic life, political disenfrancisement and lack of trust, and wage stagnation. If you just look at one number going up, great. But a rising total, and a rising average, disguises a falling median. Of course people aren't happy with that.

FredPret 3y ago
How has there been a wipeout of civic life? Since the time of the boomers, we've seen the end of colonialism in Africa and elsewhere, the civil rights movement in the states, equality for women, gay rights, overall a massive relaxation of rigid social norms. Just because old people remember halcyon times does not mean it was actually so. We've seen massive decreases in disease and infant mortality. Poor people in third world countries live longer, are healthier, and even grow taller. Communication and IT used to be horrendous, and horrendously expensive. Now even homeless people in Africa (where I'm from) have extremely connected supercomputers in their pockets. Mean and median wealth and income has skyrocketed in real and nominal terms. There's no perspective on median income and wealth that is both bleak and based on facts. This is true for the human population and especially for the US. And don't give me "inequality has gone up". It was very high, then it dipped, now it's going back up. What difference does it make - your life is much better, no matter who you are and where you live. Who cares if the richest person has ten yachts or twenty. Pessimism is a procrastination tactic. Sources: ourworldindata.org imf.org/en/Data who.int/data data.worldbank.org tradingeconomics.com

FredPret 3y ago

How has there been a wipeout of civic life? Since the time of the boomers, we've seen the end of colonialism in Africa and elsewhere, the civil rights movement in the states, equality for women, gay rights, overall a massive relaxation of rigid social norms. Just because old people remember halcyon times does not mean it was actually so. We've seen massive decreases in disease and infant mortality. Poor people in third world countries live longer, are healthier, and even grow taller. Communication and IT used to be horrendous, and horrendously expensive. Now even homeless people in Africa (where I'm from) have extremely connected supercomputers in their pockets. Mean and median wealth and income has skyrocketed in real and nominal terms. There's no perspective on median income and wealth that is both bleak and based on facts. This is true for the human population and especially for the US. And don't give me "inequality has gone up". It was very high, then it dipped, now it's going back up. What difference does it make - your life is much better, no matter who you are and where you live. Who cares if the richest person has ten yachts or twenty. Pessimism is a procrastination tactic. Sources: ourworldindata.org imf.org/en/Data who.int/data data.worldbank.org tradingeconomics.com