It's given you a place to live, and groceries, and plane tickets, and magazines, and allergy medication. Modern consumers have been desensitized by abundance to

It's given you a place to live, and groceries, and plane tickets, and magazines, and allergy medication. Modern consumers have been desensitized by abundance to the point where they are detached from physical reality. The economy is real, and damage to the economy has real consequences. Growth of per-capita GDP almost always leads to increased living standards, and shrinking per-capita almost always leads to decreased living standards. What are "decreased living standards"? It's more paying more for the conveniences of modern life like plane tickets, or restaurants, or homes with useful appliances. At the macro scale, it's having less money available for medical research and welfare. It's rising prices, without a corresponding raise in income, resulting in less to go around.