"Everyone's standard of living has risen drastically" yeah no shit, after 170 technology will advance so much that inevitably the standard of living will improve for everyone.
For the record, for billions of people in the world (including people in developed countries!) living standards are still shit. Unemployment is rampant, the United States are the richest country on Earth yet healthcare is still a luxury for its people. Since the rise of the neoliberalism in the 1980s wealth is getting even more ridiculously hoarded by a very few people: my parents' generation could easily buy a house, a nice car and other things that were considered basic, for our generation these things are a distant dream.
I understand that Econ 101 is a hell of a drug, but you need a reality check.