I have no idea why OP wants this to be a pattern when you won't even be alive to see it. Why not hope for something better in the future, more permanent?
Better things might come around if we planned long-term and stopped thinking about whether an action would benefit us immediately. Btw our standard of living compared to the 60s is ludicrously higher. People take so many conveniences as necessity that they trap themselves on a hamster wheel trying to pay for it all.
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