Best period in history? We are living it!

[razz]

You may find this as interesting as I did. 50 reasons to glad that we live now. Life is not perfect but vastly improved for most.
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/01/29/50-reasons-were-living-through-the-greatest-period.aspx

[Miss Cellane]

Good points all.

Every time I get longings for a past age, I remind myself about indoor plumbing. There's a lot to be said for indoor plumbing, especially during a polar vortex.

[JaneV2.0]

I can't think of a better time. Maybe some years into the future. It's not a bad time to be a woman.

[Rogar]

I certainly am very thankful to be living here and now. The advances in medicine alone make this the best of times. Our affluence, growing population and consumption are or will be putting a huge debt load on the environment and the natural world. Hopefully in the next decades we will made great advances in how to live more gently on the planet.

[catherine]

I guess some could say "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."

I am so grateful for the advances in technology, healthcare, and anti-discrimination. At the same time, I look forward to a transition to pulling some things back into society that we have lost--such as a sense of community, interdependence, and greater coexistence with the natural world--with less reliance on the standard currency of exchange for our sense of self-worth and security.

[Gregg]

I guess some could say "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."

+1+1+1 Double edged swords are the tool of the day. But I won't give up my internet quietly...

[flowerseverywhere]

My favorite

"17. Median household income adjusted for inflation was around $25,000 per year during the 1950s. It's nearly double that amount today. We have false nostalgia about the prosperity of the 1950s because our definition of what counts as "middle class" has been inflated -- see the 34% rise in the size of the median American home in just the past 25 years. If you dig into how the average "prosperous" American family lived in the 1950s, I think you'll find a standard of living we'd call "poverty" today. "

Sometimes I look around me and I am astounded at the wealth And opportunity I see that people don't realize they have. Growing up we were lucky if you had one tv (with three channels), one bathroom, two or three kids in each bedroom, one car, a kitchen phone (DH had a party line) and so on. I remember "whites only" signs. Can you imagine? Things like airplane vacations, home computers, cable tv, birth Control pills and cell phones were not even in the realm of possibility.
The advances made in my lifetime are astounding.

[catherine]

My favorite

"17. Median household income adjusted for inflation was around $25,000 per year during the 1950s. It's nearly double that amount today. We have false nostalgia about the prosperity of the 1950s because our definition of what counts as "middle class" has been inflated -- see the 34% rise in the size of the median American home in just the past 25 years. If you dig into how the average "prosperous" American family lived in the 1950s, I think you'll find a standard of living we'd call "poverty" today. "

Sometimes I look around me and I am astounded at the wealth And opportunity I see that people don't realize they have. Growing up we were lucky if you had one tv (with three channels), one bathroom, two or three kids in each bedroom, one car, a kitchen phone (DH had a party line) and so on. I remember "whites only" signs. Can you imagine? Things like airplane vacations, home computers, cable tv, birth Control pills and cell phones were not even in the realm of possibility.
The advances made in my lifetime are astounding.

Well, I suppose two bathrooms and a flat-screen TV in every room can be a measure of prosperity, but it's not a measure of happiness. I was driving through one of the neighborhoods near my house--they were all cookie cutter Cape Cods exactly like the one I grew up in in the 50/60s. Houses in which families relied only one one income to get everything they needed--including meals consisting of "real" food. There was a total sense of security then, and you didn't have to pay a fortune to "play"--you just hung out outside until dark.

So I do agree that we've come a long way in many respects, but I do not agree that the 1950s middle class was poverty compared to today's standards. I still have one bathroom and one TV, and I don't think a surplus of technology equals high quality of life.

[SteveinMN]

My favorite

"17. Median household income adjusted for inflation was around $25,000 per year during the 1950s. It's nearly double that amount today. We have false nostalgia about the prosperity of the 1950s because our definition of what counts as "middle class" has been inflated -- see the 34% rise in the size of the median American home in just the past 25 years. If you dig into how the average "prosperous" American family lived in the 1950s, I think you'll find a standard of living we'd call "poverty" today. "

Sometimes I look around me and I am astounded at the wealth And opportunity I see that people don't realize they have.
I will take issue with the "median household income" metric they offered. I think the doubling has been achieved because more members of a household work. The article does not seem to account for that.

Beyond that, however, poverty has always been a relative concept. Certainly what a member of Sam Walton's family considers poverty will be different from what a migrant farm worker will consider poverty which, in turn, is different from the grinding poverty seen widely in Africa or Asia. And, at least in developed countries, the ideal seems to be shifting. The ol' dream of a single-family-home-with-picket-fence and a car or two in the garage doesn't seem to be on the radar of a lot of people anymore. It will be interesting to see how wealth and poverty are redefined as the paradigms change.

[flowerseverywhere]

I agree with you, Steve and Catherine. We have made so many advances in my lifetime, some for the good, and some for the not so good.