Are we better off now than 20 years ago.

I heard an interesting thing on the radio, it was arguing about whether life is better now than it was 20 years ago.

It was saying that their was a lot of unemployment and time were hard but people when asked say that it's worse now because despite all having fairly secure jobs they think that violence is up and the quality of life is down.

I don't really agree that it is more violent in these times but I would say that the press coverage of violence is rather hysterical and this has helped to give the feeling of it being more dangerous.

One interesting point was made, he said people need two wages now to leave the same way that people lived off one wage 20 years ago. This is true really because it all centers around buying a house but to pay a mortgage these days you probably need two wages where as 15 years ago you could pay all the mortgage and groceries using just the mans wages.

of course on a personal level I was probably better off 20 years ago because I was nine, I didn't have any bills and I was feed and clothed.