> Did Americans have an impoverished standard of living in the 1980s? Absolutely not. What we have today is the ability to buy/own tons more "stuff", much of

> Did Americans have an impoverished standard of living in the 1980s? Absolutely not. What we have today is the ability to buy/own tons more "stuff", much of which is cheap junk. That does _not_ translate into better quality of life.