I am skeptical that "life was better when my parents were kids"?

1 of 2 I don't think you are skeptical..You just have to change I think some environmental factors might be worse now with the depletion of some natural resources at the same time the discovery of new technologies have made our lives a lot better. This is a complex question because happiness is in the eye of the beholder. Perception is reality and everything is relative; however it is all connected If we were to develop an algorithm, for happiness it would be different for everyone and by its nature would have many permutations due to changes of our physical and psychological health , our environment, and the effects of the local, national and global economy.The levels of oxygen are lower now as the levels of carbon dioxide rises, but I am not going to go back to riding a horse to work. I am sorry I do love riding horses but it is not efficient ways of transportation I would spill my coffee on my wrinkle free clothes galloping to work. It is easy to get caught up in all the negativity in the it is broadcasted to us, but you cannot evaluate life now by stratifying our lives as we are in an economic through or valley. Thekey is to manage the Trough and remain optimistic, because there is always recession to the mean and we will soon move to a growth and prosperous economic cycle. Just think about how much medicine has advanced to give us a better way of life. Any benefit can be twisted and become a burden when money gets involved. Before our times, people use to only fly in balloons or travel by wagon, train or bus. Now you can be in another state in hours. Yes. Those airplanes that benefit our society can also hinder our society and economy , but is in rare cases. Lets not focus only on the bad. Think about how much computers have increased our standard of living, timesavings, and made things more efficient. Some people waste time on computers and there are some increased risk with the technology but one has to be aware of those risks and hedge against them. As far as needing two incomes in the household, that is not an accurate statement because we are not comparing apples to apples when comparing the household composition of the "old days" to the "new days." It is not even accurate because there are household NOW where No one works and they get by. In order to really evaluate then and now fairly all other factors have to be constant as explained by economic principle of Ceteris Paribus. Back then two people probably didn't have to work but they also didn't have two brand new cars with the wipers on the fog lights, that they will trade in three years to maintain their economic status along with all of the other purchases that they made above their means because were stressed out at work or with their lives. Price are higher now but not more expensive than in the past due to inflationary factors that have been prevalent since the invention of currency. The economic principle of the Rule of 72 explains the effects of inflation on prices. Typically it takes about 15 to 20 years for things to double in price since historically the inflation rate has been approx 3% to 5%. But to make the argument that things are more expensive now and not mention that also minimum wage, I never made minimum wage but a large segment of our population , has increased accordingly and in line with rising costs of goods is another logical fallacy to substantiate that it was better back then. So as long as the % rise in real wages is correlated to the % rise in cost of goods then it should be cool and not worse off. I love my life and like all the benefits yielded by the evolution of technology and all the other things that are awesome about our world today. We just have to have balance in our lives and not be too materialistic and live above our means.When you are living above your means in order to gather material things and all of those things are financed, then you don't own those things. You are now a slave to your materials and live your life to go and exchange time for money to keep those things. Simplicity is bliss and in some ways Henry David Thoreau was correct about the benefits of being free and in nature. At the same time, I wouldn't want to live as a hermit by myself. So if you can learn art of balancing simplicity in the world that we live in today and be grateful for the things you have and don't bite off more than can chew then you don't have to worry about both people having to work. If you master it, in the long run you will earn your freedom and not even have to go to a job just to get by. Then you can pursue all of your passions and you will probably work but not because you have to but because your work is imbedded in your passions and you are just having fun.

Being a slave to a possession that is financed and you have no equity in it is the samething as being a slave and having nothing. I think.

You need a hat. The hole in your head is showing. Fifty years ago every kid had a mommy and a daddy who lived at the same address. Daddy worked to pay the family expenses and Mommy stayed home all day. Every kid played outside most of the day and nobody worried about where they were. If there was any trouble the neighbors would get a message to Mommy or Daddy. Most of the time the neighbors would handle it themselves.

Jobs fifty years ago were whatever was required to run the country. You know, like building houses, collecting money in stores, making cars and tires and appliances and stuff like that. Imported stuff was almost unknown. After fifty years of development, one of our most significant achievements is that you are conned into ringing up your purchases yourself at the grocery store, and you are so grateful for the convenience that you do it without being paid a wage.

The big difference is that fifty years ago all the withholding taxes totaled less than eight percent of a paycheck. Compare that to your own situation.