To me it’s funny when people loudly shout the progress a generation made themselves while at the same time saying “and no further!”.
The truth is most of the older generations right now not only don’t want to understand what the struggles are of the day they live in, they insist on keeping as much power and influence as possible. They’re now learning (or not) the lesson that they taught the generation before them.
> In terms of material possessions, safety, opportunity, legal recourse, and focus on self ennoblement and aspiration, we live in an age like no other
This isn’t true by practically any metric other than violent crime rates.
My grandparents were born on farms without plumbing or electricity and they were not 'poor' relative to those in the region, they were about equal to others in nearby farms and villages.
In just a few generations we have: cars, electricity, ratio, air travel, safe air travel, plastics (just consider how pervasive that one is), dishwashers, washing machines/dryers (fundamentally changing domestic work), microwaves, 'all season' produce, vast array of selection, home ownership, consumer finance, credit, TV, the internet, access to information instantaneously from around the world, educational access (in 1930 about 4% went to College, now it's 40%), insulin, outpatient heart surgery, antibiotics etc.. Walmart, the Dollar Store, Target, Costco and Amazon have exploded consumerism far even beyond those things: you can buy any little trinket for a few dollars, and have it delivered from China to your door.
We live in an age of unparalleled material abundance, really, it's not even an argument, so it says more about perspective than anything.
You can draw the line probably anywhere from 'Silent Gen to Millenial' but there is no doubt, from here on in, the pluarity of people in Wealthy Nations have completely surpassed any concept of 'material need'.
You could also pay for housing healthcare and college with a part time job. This is like saying Rockefeller wasn’t rich because he didn’t have an iPhone. Individual economics for recent generations in the US is much more dire than you make out, though yes creature comforts are more abundant. Income inequality is already at levels of the 1920s. The ownership classes are making away with all the assets and the security of common people has gone down drastically.
The truth is most of the older generations right now not only don’t want to understand what the struggles are of the day they live in, they insist on keeping as much power and influence as possible. They’re now learning (or not) the lesson that they taught the generation before them.
> In terms of material possessions, safety, opportunity, legal recourse, and focus on self ennoblement and aspiration, we live in an age like no other
This isn’t true by practically any metric other than violent crime rates.