One of the most remarkable facts of the last 200 years is that life has been improved significantly by the American economic system. Consider that nearly 200 years ago, one of the richest men in the world, Nathan Rothschild, died of an infection that could not be cured despite having the worlds best doctors care for him. In modern America, the poorest child would not die from this infection because of improvements in medical care. You can see this in the average life expectancy which has increased for all Americans. Life expectancy was 47 years in 1900 and has risen to 78 years in 2020. No doubt medical advances have played a key role, but the fact that Americans have access to electricity and indoor plumbing have also contributed. Yet, virtually no Americans, apart from the very wealthiest, had these luxuries in 1900.
In 1900, most Americans were still living on farms and eating the food that they produced. But walking into a grocery store today allows anyone to buy food from around the world. Today, only one percent of Americans live on farms. Even the poorest Americans are more likely to suffer from obesity rather than starvation.
Products that only came into being in the last 40 years have become commonplace. During the 1980’s only ten percent of families owned a computer, but in 2016 90 percent of families had a computer. In 2020, 80 percent of all Americans owned a smartphone. Due to the wealth created by the American economic system, Americans of all income classes have luxuries that would have only belonged to the wealthiest monarchs and nobility of 150 years ago. Our lives are healthier, longer and more prosperous than any other human beings that have lived before.
For more information please see the following:
Wealth, Poverty and Politics by Thomas Sowell
Arguing with Socialists by Glenn Beck
Mobile Fact Sheet https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/fact-sheet/mobile/ Accessed 1/21/21 5 pm
