wow , this actually did make my urge disappear , thank you ! <| sep |> Average home prices are lower and homes are larger today . A median home in 1963 cost $ 18 , 000 , which is about $ 142 , 000 in modern dollars the median home today costs $ 221 , 000 howeverYes , homes got bigger , but in terms of the median inflationadjusted cost they are more expensive especially considering comparisons to things like the inflationadjusted minimum wage , which peaked in 1968 minwage 1938 to 2012 . jpg for a poor american , that was the most wealthy they ' ve ever been . You could argue that relative to median income they haven ' t gotten much more expensive , but that ignores the increasing difficulty for those below median income levels relative to housing affordability . There is a positive case to be made about prosperity for SOME people those with good jobs who got on the property ownership ladder early . But there is also a clear trend of worse conditions for those in the lower half at the same time . medical treatment is also better today it ' s not even close . Again , it really depends on where you are economically and what you need sure , technology has advanced , but that ' s hardly helping the people who can ' t afford to go to the hospital at all , whose life expectancy has started to fall in recent y e a r s e x p e c t a n c y f o r l e s s e d u c atedwhitesinusisshrinking . html . Otherwise , most of the prosperity benefits you ' re talking about are just technological improvement those don ' t have anything to do with tax rates . Yes , consumer goods have gotten better or cheaper , but that ' s what you ' d expect from any amount of time passing .