| By virtually every objective measure, Americans today are better off economically than ever before. Our standard of living has never been higher. Our expected life spans have never been longer. We have never had larger homes, safer cars, more labor-saving devices, faster communications, more effective medicines, easier long-distance travel, better technology, more modern conveniences or greater entertainment choices. And, thanks to soaring asset values, U.S. household net worth is at an all-time high. We should count our blessings. Yet many in academia and the media don't want us to. They would prefer that we adopt their worldview - and feel angry, bitter, and demoralized. And they have a near-perfect issue to stoke our sense of grievance: economic inequality. Journalists and academics want you to overcome your natural sense of contentment and gratitude and, instead, compare yourself to the richest fraction of one percent of the population. That way you can still imagine that life has handed you a raw deal. The problem is... for most of us, it hasn't. It's true that wages have only just caught up with the higher prices of the past few years. Yet our purchasing power is still expanding. For example, spending by households on most of modern life's "basics" - food, clothing, and shelter - fell from 53% of disposable income in 1950 to 44% in 1970 to 32% today. And these figures actually understate the matter. Forty years ago, lounge chairs didn't give massages. A TV was at most 25 inches and had bad reception and terrible resolution. Cars didn't have leather interiors with walnut trim, rack and pinion steering, high-powered stereos, front- and side-impact airbags or a GPS. Nor did they easily last for more than 100,000 miles. According to the Census Bureau, the median square footage of newly built single-family homes hit 2,286 square feet last year. That's more than 800 square feet larger than the median home built in 1992. We in the West today live longer, healthier, safer, richer, freer lives than any people in the history of the planet. Yet instead of feeling grateful, many look at those in the top 100th of 1% and feel bitterness and envy instead. Bill Gates has a 66,000 square foot mansion that overlooks Lake Washington. Warren Buffett zips around the country in his private jet, a Bombardier Challenger 6000. Oracle founder Larry Ellison has a 453-foot yacht with 82 rooms, a private cinema, and an extensive wine cellar. Yet these facts don't make me want to boo-hoo about the terrible unfairness of it all. When Donald Trump goes out to eat, does he get a better cut of steak than you do? Does Oprah Winfrey have a better iPhone? Does Elon Musk have a faster internet connection? Perhaps we need a bit of perspective. | 
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