It's all relative. Things like cell phones and clothes are cheaper for Americans because of an improvement in technology and production capabilities; and obviously because instead of a factory filled with decently-paid American workers it's being produced in bulk by slave labor in China and Mexico. Granted an automobile with a combustion engine is cheaper now, but try buying an electric, or plug-in hybrid. We have our special toys for the rich just like our parents did yesterday, and our grandparents before them. Drew Carry fails to mention that with new technologies comes more complications. The things themselves might be cheaper but the ultimate cost of living is greater. Ever since our days of the hunter-gatherer things have gotten more sophisticated (and consequently in Drew's eyes 'better'), but the average weekly working hours have been going up since, too.

In a more practical and shorter-term perspective Drew Carry is right on a lot of points. However, with any concentration of capital, there's inevitably going to be someone that's exploited. The average American has greatly benefited from globalization but average global poverty has not only increased but the poorest are even poorer. In the analogy Drew seemingly cringes at, "the rich get richer and the poor get poorer", in the global scene we are the rich and the majority of the world is the poor.

Would I rather live today than live during the gilded age? Hell yes. In that sense Drew Carry is right. But he is dead wrong in the insuination that the 'invisible hand' constantly drives prosperity in the positive direction with little to no contribution. The only reason why the average American doesn't have to suffer all-day shifts in the most horrible of conditions for pennies a day isn't because of the wonders of the glorious free market but because of labor movements. He's wrong in the insinuation that there aren't class struggles. He's wrong that the rich won't find any way they can to exploit the middle class and widen the gap.

He's right that it's naive and ignorant of history to assume that Americans on average have it worse than they ever did, or that the condition of the middle class is entirely doom-and-gloom. However, he's probably more naive and ignorant of history if he assumes there aren't class struggles. Likewise he fails to mention the countless families that have gone bankrupt because the father had successive heart-attacks, or the 80-year old woman that has to keep a part-time job at McDonalds because she can't afford her medicine. All of such things are byproducts of the great invisible hand that Drew seems to pray to. Things are better (for Americans) now, but don't go into the future blindfolded assuming that the ruling class is going to point you in the right direction. If they could they'd lead you off a cliff and take your wallet.