I haven't downvoted you, but you are overlooking the forest for the trees. Compared to the richest person alive in 1923 or 1823, or 1023 for that matter, we ha

I haven't downvoted you, but you are overlooking the forest for the trees. Compared to the richest person alive in 1923 or 1823, or 1023 for that matter, we have a lot more at our disposal. In this sense, we are much richer than them. You could be the King of England and if you got cancer, it was lights out, no exception for His Majesty. Going still back in history, even Genghis Khan had to defecate in a desert and wipe his behind with his own fingers, though he ruled of majority of Eurasia at some point. Contemporary people aren't all trillionaires, but they certainly enjoy a much higher standard of living than tycoons of yesterday.