Are you better opposite than your forbears? People who talk wistfully of the worthy old days get a scolding from Virginia Postrel (see "The American Standard of Whining").

Are you better opposite than your forbears? People who talk wistfully of the worthy old days get a scolding from Virginia Postrel (see "The American Standard of Whining"). restraint statistics on the economy and inflation give an account of us that output per human frame is up by a factor of 37 since the fall of the curtain of World War II. If anything, Postrel says, the official numbers understate the bonanza from fresh conveniences, electronic gadgets and discount retailers.

For balance, put to hire me put in a word in defense of the whiners. However accurately the numbers measure inflation, they utterly miss the phenomenon of recent inconveniences. What this country requires is a hassle-adjusted cost of living.

Officially, the coin you spend on gasoline idling in a traffic jam forward the way to work is consumption. The pair hours in the line to take away toothpaste at the airport is part of your vacation. You