Case in point: I remember when going to the dentist meant a rather relaxed uncrowded hour or so. Today it has become a socialist clinic with mostly foreign born workers who don't necessarily understand much English. Everyone is rushed and slap dash as my Dad used to say. BTW my dad was a GP who made house calls back in the 50's. He had poor patients and millionaires. The ones who could pay made up for the ones who couldn't. That's how he put it.
Sure this is anecdotal but that's what real life is like. The truth is that we are being encouraged to accept a lower standard of living, and I'm not talking about buying power alone. Little things like popular music have slipped out of the realm of decency. Back in the 20's,30's,40's, 50's and 60's popular tunes were part of the glue of American Culture. They were evident everywhere. Now they are only evidence of the decline of our culture into self absorbed indecency.
I don't have fancy charts and theories to throw around, just the experience of more than half a century and some of the wisdom that came to me from my father who was born in the Victorian Era. I grew up in a time when women knew they might have to work but that it would be better if they didn't. But don't get me started about that!
When all is said and done we will realize that we have sold out our freedom to the Chinese and the Russians for a new pair of sneakers.
Wanna fix the problem? Change the tax code!
We encourage consumption while discouraging investment and savings through the income tax, payroll tax, and capital gains tax.
We encourage importation while discouraging exportation through corporate taxes.
"Pop culture" is at it's core a consumer society. Our Keynesian consumption-based economy has spawned it.
Want to change it? Want to get active? Want to stop the slide? Support the FairTax, a National Retail Sales Tax. Want to know more? Ask me or go to http://www.fairtax.org
One, my dad had to catch a ride to work with a friend since Mom didn't have her own vehicle. Two, if she wanted to make a phone call, someone had to get off the line. You remember good ole' Ma Bell don't you? Who had more than 1 line? Three, we had to hoof it to the library to look up something in the encyclopedia, rather than just crank up the PC.
I could go on, but I think you get the point. Just because medicine has changed doesn't mean the country is becoming poorer. On the contrary, the country has become so wealthy that even 'poor' people can now afford to kill themselves from all the luxury: limited physical blue collar work, a sea of cheap, used autos, and of course, the ability to inexpensively consume 5k+ calories a day.