Ya. Just less going in to savings and retirement. That is not the case for many though. I know way too many people living on redlined credit cards but have more "stuff" than me. And I need the smart phone to compensate for stupid me...
2 kids in college. But I am one of those idiots that planned for it so that is not cutting in to my spending money.
I have less/same income as ten years ago but I'm managing it better due to the downturn in racing making it so I won't get more anytime soon. Overall my standard of living is no different than it was then but it's a hell of a lot better than it was when I was growing up.
I should have been more clear, when I said "our" I meant as a nation which does trickle down to all of us in some way. Not taxing imports has caused a lot of jobs to leave the US, that affects us. Not taxing goods from overseas companies have also made them richer all while they don't buy much from us (USA)....I don't think that could mean good things for us as a nation in the long run. As to your specific examples Sean, thank a Democrat for all that.
Can't argue with charging the same tax as another country charges us. Sounds fair, but I hope if anything comes of this, it's that they bring down those export tax rates to a reasonable level.
I might agree it's not as good as it can be, but I don't think our standard of living as a nation has gone down at all. It has increased in my lifetime. I blame all the politicians
Before or after college expenses? Then maybe you spent too much on them when they weren't in college.
Health care cost might have increased but so has the ability of it to save your life. Can't spend shit if you are dead unless you are a Kennedy of such.
Saving a life is one thing. Prolonging life 10-15 years beyond your "use by" date is another thing. Tough topic.
I was referring to stuff I know of that is specific to relatives. I know of multiple people who if they had had the same issue 10 years prior would no longer be with us. Little things that are huge like the way the seal the probe used in a heart stent. Used to be pull it out and apply compression to keep the person from bleeding to death (a significant portion of the overall risk I was told) last I heard the insert it through a plastic stick on thing, pull it out loose a few drops of blood then it falls off in a few days. Much safer and I bet there is 100's of such things available that didn't previously exist.
There were kids that had more but lets just say that my kids were/are not too hard done by. Like when my oldest was 7 and asked me why anyone would fly in the back of the plane where it was all crowded. The first class airmiles tickets may have spoiled them a bit. ..
I wasn't trying to disagree with you. I agree that the advancements in medicine have to come at a cost. There is also a portion of the population that wouldn't make it to their 70's-80's if it were not for modern medicine. Those treatments come at a high cost as well and if I had to guess, most of those treatments are tax payer funded.
For me it has been a parabola. I did not have a ton growing up, did well early and have been watching it decline for the last 10 years or so. But I do agree that we have it pretty damned good. I have worked places where I got to see what "low standard of living" really meant. Like 10% infant mortality and windowless huts with grass roofs low.
There seems to be a shift in opinions here in the dungeon in regards to the free trade VS fair trade discussions. I don't have time to go back and search but I remember a lot of people here saying the government should just let the markets sort it out.