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I went to the beach yesterday. I am sure @RadioFreeTom took a lot of grief for this post. Well, I am here (from the center-left) to echo the broader theme of his point. And I do this bc I think this point is REALLY IMP and is something that seems to have been completely lost bc
there is plenty to bitch about at the macro level, Tom's right, for all our debt and dubious retirement prospects, overall, the human condition, its never been better. And we don't spend enough time talking about how good it actually is. When I was growing up, 30% of the country
didn't even have phones. Now, almost everyone has one. Literally, the entire knowledge of the world fits into our f'ing pockets! When you wanted to kick it w your friends back in the early 90s, you had to page them. From a phone. And wait till they called you back. Unless you
come from true poverty, you likely have it pretty damn good. Better than people in the 80s, the 70s, the 60s and sure as hell better than before that. Believe it or not, it used to be a treat to go eat out. Which is why there were so few restaurants. Chicken was a luxury! 
And you know what made chicken cheap enough to give us Chic-Fila-As? Capitalism. Which does some shitty things, especially when its poorly regulated, but also brings us Chic-Fil-A. And iphones. And those handy scooter things. And as @RadioFreeTom noted w his tweet about pet
spending, our culture has changed. Gen X and up, we have different concepts of what basic living entails. We argue access to things like air conditioning & internet is a necessity. And the data don't lie. For all of our bitching about healthcare, entertainment spending increased
10% in 2017. Healthcare 6.9%. We spend, on average, 5% of our income on entertainment. That's probably due to the fact that decidedly less of us are convinced we'll do our real living once we're dead. So we want to live now, while we're breathing. bls.gov/news.release/p…
Anyway, the point is, like MD-7, there is plenty to bitch and moan about, but for those of us with college educations or jobs that produce equivalent incomes, we have it pretty damn good. Certainly better than the old people had it back then even if they are out-living us now.
