Keeping a high standard

Monday, Feb. 7, 2011 | 2:01 a.m.

Over the past three decades, America’s standard of living would seem to have flourished.

As USA Today reported Thursday, life expectancy is up, violent crime is down and people are making significantly more money. In 1980, the personal income per person was $24,079, adjusted for inflation. Today, it’s $40,545.

A new home in 1980 averaged 1,740 square feet, and now it’s 2,438. Of course it takes a larger house to hold the big screen TV, complete with an assortment of the 565 cable networks now available, up from 28 networks in 1980.

We’re apparently having more fun — spending on recreation more than doubled. And Americans are traveling more — the number of airline miles flown annually per person has nearly doubled. The country’s love for cars continues — the nation also has more vehicles than it does drivers.

Technology has been a driver in the standard of living. Cell phones are everywhere — there are 293 million of them, which is notable considering there are 310 million Americans. Of course, technology has become widely available and relatively cheap. In 1980, it cost $214,000 to buy 2.4 gigabytes of computing capacity, which was massive then in both power and physical size. Today, a small flash drive holds more information and costs less than $10.

But the comparisons aren’t all rosy. Americans are spending twice as much for housing and three times as much on health care, which is a clear sign of the need for health care reform.

Much like 1980, the nation is suffering in the midst of economic doldrums, although the current economy is significantly different. The world has become a small place economically, and that has helped the standard of living in the fact that more goods are available cheaper. That’s due to lower manufacturing costs in other countries. Of course, that has also translated into a loss of American jobs as manufacturing, which is a valuable sector of the economy, has gone overseas.

Still, Americans are wealthier, but the nation’s wealth hasn’t been spread equally. There has been an incredible disparity in income. During the boom from 2001 to 2007, about 60 percent of the growth in wealth went to the richest 1 percent of Americans. They now possess about 18 percent of the income in the nation.

The inequity between rich and poor should be a concern because it could be a serious drag on the overall standard of living. Another bit of bad news: More than 40 percent of the population has less than $10,000 saved for retirement. That could take a toll in the long run.

And there’s unemployment. The rate is still too high, and millions of Americans are struggling to find work. There is inequity there as well. The unemployment rate for people without a college education is twice what it is for people with at least a bachelor’s degree.

America has had an incredibly high standard of living for years, but the country can’t take it for granted. It could be more fragile than Americans think. The country is showing signs of recovery, and the nation’s leaders have to do all they can to speed it along — for everyone.