Actually, it would apply to Europe and the USA as well. The industrialists just replaced the old wealth of their time. Garage IT whizes or salaried managers replaced the old wealth of our time. Indeed, the managerial revolution itself allowed the middle class to earn a decent pay for themselves, instead of funneling all the money to owners of companies. It's easy to pinpoint few stunning examples of American dream in the 19th century and forget that those lucky few have their counterparts today as well. Going from the bottom to the top is probably not significantly easier today than before but going from the middle to the top or the bottom to the middle definitely is. The risk is in going from the middle to the bottom though, of course.

LOL, we don't have to be one dimensional, do we?

Zultar, that trend is happening all the time for at least a century. You are the one who predict a radical divergence from the trend and hold a sentiment, not Sarg.

Which trend are you talking about, ulytau?

"that things will be cheaper or less resource intensive in the future"

Lol...I like that you're defending me and all but...isn't that what I said?

I disagree. Some things got cheaper, but we are quickly running out of those non-renewable resources. There is only so much metals and rare metals on Earth.

In the next century, it's not marrying young we'll need to worry about...it's the legal age of consent for clones. Of course, clone marriage would still be a hotly debated issue in Kansas and Mississippi. California, of course, will have led the way in clone-machine marriages, mostly because it's a separate country floating halfway between the newly created Nevada coast and Hawaii.

Sarg, it is after midnight after all, but if I defend you, I should agree with what you say, right?

Zultar, you would be hard pressed to find a single consumer good that is on average more expensive today that in 1850s. Perhaps those that are obsolete and low in demand. On the other hand, production process is much more efficient - we need less fuels to do the same work, we have less waste from production, we use techniques that require less material on principle (for instance, 3 print allows to create hollow objects when the inside doesn't need to contain mass) and we are able to substitute one material for another. We haven't even scratched all the resource possibilities our planet offers and those that might be depleted in the next century we already try to replace.

Sorry ulytau, I misread who was saying what quotes for some reason. Reading back after your last comment, I realise my mistake. Midnight, as you say, probably to blame.

@ulytau, I am not disagreeing that certain things will be cheaper and easier to produce. I am talking about electronic material. You have to consider the rare metals needed to produce smaller and more powerful or more efficient electronics.

We will resume this conversation at a later time. It's late for you and I need to go home to make dinner.

Lets stay on topic, OK? I'm 37, and I would definitely bang a 13 year old if it were legal. I know Draugnar is with me on this, so don't act like I'm some kind of pervert.

@YJ, it don't think to 'bang a 13 year old' was ever in question, it was merely getting the parent/owner's permission to marry said teenager...

Really YJ? I'm of an age where I could legally bang a 13 year-old, and most 13 year-olds don't seem to be worth banging.

lol No, ghug. Not really :)

Not sure if this has been brought up, but keep in mind that they married in the early twentieth century. Marrying a 13-year old in the US would have been far less of an eyebrow raiser, especially in light of WWI having consumed the lives of many americans.

@YJ - Um... I like some grass on the playing field and a nice set of hills above the valley, so 13 is a bit young for even me unless she is very mature for her age.

A quick little bit of internet research shows that with parental consent, you can get married as young as 13 in New Hampshire and 14 in Alabama, North Carolina, and South Carolina. In 2006, Colorado closed a loophole allowing common law marriages for girls as young as 12. Minimum age in Kansas is 15.

In Texas, the age is 9 apart from in unions involving livestock, then it rises to 13.

It gives "getting head" a new meaning.

said the cowpoke.