Boudreaux on the Fake Consumption Gap

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From the article:

Here’s a list – admittedly only off the top of my head – of ways that the consumption gap between the rich and the middle class has shrunk since, say, 1965.  I will use Howard Hughes (1905-1976) as my hypothetical super-rich person in 1965.

- In 1965, Howard Hughes could afford to have a package or letter delivered across the continent or ocean overnight.  No middle-class American in 1965 could afford such a service.  Today such speedy delivery options – both to send and to receive – are quite within the reach of ordinary Americans.

and

- In 1965, Howard Hughes could afford to talk on the phone for hours to someone hundreds or thousands of miles away.  Not true for ordinary Americans.  Today, even the poorest American pays no long-distance charges even when making a transcontinental telephone call.

- In 1965, Howard Hughes could afford to equip his house with a large screen, a state-of-the-art projector, an impressive sound system, and a film library filled with thousands of movies, documentaries, and television shows, so that he had a virtual movie theater in his home.  No ordinary American back then could do so.  Today, nearly every ordinary American can buy a large-screen hi-def television, a surround-sound speaker system, and a Netflix subscription so that, as a result, today’s ordinary American has an in-home theater experience very much like that which only the Howard Hugheses of 1965 could enjoy.

Source: Don Boudreaux, “Rest of Us,” cafehayek.com, January 21, 2014