Andie Nachborgen writes:
"it's just untrue to say we are better off, lots better off, than we were a generation ago, or that the secular tendencies are to make us better and better off. They are in fact in many ways the reverse."
But the secular tendency is there, it is the tendency to reduce costs. This was shown by Cox and Alm, who estimated how long you would have to work to earn enough to buy some basic consumer goods:
Year 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 Latest* Half gallon of Milk 37mins 31 21 16 13 10 8.7 8 7 Three-pound chicken 2hrs27mins 2:01 1:24 1:11 33 22 18 14 14 100 kilowatt hrs electricity 13hrs36mins 11:03 5:52 2hrs 1:09 39mins 45 43 38 3min coast-to-coast call 30hrs 3mins 16:29 6:07 1:44 1hr 24mins 11 4 2
*latest is 1999, so I accept that it does not reflect the pressure on wages post 2000
Cox and Alm's calculations are mirrored in the survey of US household expenditure, where, very gradually, one can see a shift of expenditure away from basics towards luxuries. Food as a share of household expenditure in 1984: 15%; 1992: 14.31%; 2005: 12.77% Entertainment as a share of household expenditure in 1984: 4.8%; 1992: 5 %; 2005: 5.14%
Andie says that his dad could afford to send three children to college. I am glad to hear that, but US college enrollments have been climbing again, after a big dip in the mid 80s, so that now they stand at 27.8 million as opposed to 20 million in 1967.
Andie Nachborgen surprises me when he says "Anyway, James H, don't seem to get the point that most Americans are Not doing better than they were a generation ago".
It is true, of course, that I know Britain, where people are a lot better off than they were 15 years ago, and generally better off each generation than they were the previous. I have to say that I am a little surprised that the wealthiest country in the world is so badly off, especially when it continues to consume so much of the rest of the world's resources.
But if I have a wrong idea of US wealth, don't I get it from subscribing to the LBO, where listers are always bemoaning the consumerism that grips the American working class? As some examples show:
US citizens accused of "mindless consumerism" http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/2006/2006-April/007129.html especially the young
http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/2001/2001-July/012886.html or again: "the trivialized, commercialized and dehumanized consumerism of post-lat(t)e capitalist America" http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/2005/2005-May/010058.html or again "the worse forms of capitalist consumerism" http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/2003/2003-August/021030.html "prominent scholars of consumerism" are praised for their contribution to "the excellent new paperback Do Americans Shop Too Much? "http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/2000/2000-September/016564.html