The whole concept of wealth is both subjective and relativistic. As Tom Wolfe said (and I paraphrase) "the average American plumber possesses riches that would make the Sun King blush." We have 64-bit super computers in our pockets. We all have access to a magic library that can answer almost any question instantly. Fresh food comes in incredible variety from all over the world at reasonable prices. We have entertainment choices that would have been impossible - completely impossible - for Howard Hughes. Every single person in North America is richer in absolute terms than the richest person in the 17th Century - probably the 19th. Even the crappiest medical care is better than the best in the early 20th Century, and let’s not even talk about dentistry. Mostly, the "rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer" argument is just a sublimated jealous cry about life choices that have rendered the complainer poorer than the average professional; an bitter complaint about the fact that society still values the labour and skill of engineers more highly than it does that of gender studies experts, though most of the later also carry communications and entertainment devices in their pockets that would have been inconceivable in the '60s.
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The whole concept of wealth is both subjective and relativistic. As Tom Wolfe said (and I paraphrase) "the average American plumber possesses riches that would make the Sun King blush." We have 64-bit super computers in our pockets. We all have access to a magic library that can answer almost any question instantly. Fresh food comes in incredible variety from all over the world at reasonable prices. We have entertainment choices that would have been impossible - completely impossible - for Howard Hughes. Every single person in North America is richer in absolute terms than the richest person in the 17th Century - probably the 19th. Even the crappiest medical care is better than the best in the early 20th Century, and let’s not even talk about dentistry. Mostly, the "rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer" argument is just a sublimated jealous cry about life choices that have rendered the complainer poorer than the average professional; an bitter complaint about the fact that society still values the labour and skill of engineers more highly than it does that of gender studies experts, though most of the later also carry communications and entertainment devices in their pockets that would have been inconceivable in the '60s.
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