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@ABScientist

I think there are quite a few people who can afford less than they are used to.

If you are talking about short-term then yea, year to year there is going to be some fluctuation, not every year is a global economic improvement. COVID hit us hard for example and there was certainly a downturn from this.

But on average over longer periods of time the economy overall is objectively better with far fewer people below a living wage than ever before.

This raises questions of what are basic needs. Food, housing and heating obviously are.

It goes beyond just basic needs, by almost every measure the poorest among us are much better off than they were at the turn of the century.

But is going on a holiday every year a basic need? Being able to smoke? Have a subscription to Netflix? Presents around Christmas? Dining in restaurants? Have a pet?

No matter how you measure it more people can do all of those things more often then they could a century ago, and by a huge margin.

Especially the holiday causes a lot of discussion where I am. I think you can argue that you need time off work every year, but travel?

Even by this measure things have vastly improved. The average work week was over 60 hours a week at the turn of the century, today it is much less, a a bit below 40 hours a week.