For $70 a month an entire family can have access to the internet, Netflix and Spotify.
Food is cheaper, more plentiful and comes in more variety now.
Healthcare is much better and more people have access to more treatments than ever before.
You really could go on and on. Even if real wages have stagnated for the working class, modern technology and the convenience that comes with it has made life soooo much better for the large majority of people. The can buy more with their wages, stagnant or not.
There is more variety, with more of a spread of quality over price points. Lower quality food is cheaper, higher quality food is less accessible.
> Healthcare is much better and more people have access to more treatments than ever before.
Healthcare is better if you can get it. Yes, there are more treatments available, for some, but there are more without access.
People addicted to drugs or without jobs are not new issues.
> I know you can make the stats look like living standards are on the up and up
That's a bit unreasonable, suggesting any and all statistics that disagree with your view are not trustworthy.
> you would be ignoring the huge issue of income inequality which is root cause of the political instability the west is experiencing.
Inequality and living standards are significantly different things.
Do you have statistics to support the 5 decades of falling living standards claim?
The OP's point in this context is spot on, positive psychology not only has nothing to offer this growing lower class but it's more and more looking like it's a net negative to them.