Re:Who Will Stand Up to the Superrich?
by dcbell on Sunday November 14, 2010 @01:11PM
(#1903723)
It would correlate, except so many things have gotten dramatically cheaper while the cost of, say, bread has stayed the same (adjusted for inflation). It's possible for inflation-adjusted income to stagnate while standard of living increases, and I'd argue that it has. As petty as it sounds, I'm pretty glad I live in a world with Google.
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Depends how you define standard of living. If we consider "standard of living" to mean "happiness", as you seem to imply, that actually correlates well with real (inflation/CPI-adjusted) income. Accordingly, happiness levels have been flat and/or declining for the vast majority of the population [1], just as real wages have.
This may be a gap in my understanding of objective measures of standard of living. I agree I'd rather have Google. I'll have to do some research.
It may be a moot point, since no one can objectively compare their standard of living to that of an equivalent person 40 years ago (or even themselves 40 years ago.)