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The poor have those things because they still have some amount of power. They're still needed for work, and if you make too many of them too desperate, they can threaten the people at the top. But if you let the wealth (and power) gap get too large this will no longer be the case, and the poor might lose access to those things. If the wealth gap becomes such that the rich can afford automated production and protection but the poor can not, the current economic and political systems will no longer have a reason to give access to any of those things to the poor.

by ozim4 hours ago|

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I think you want to replace fresh vegetables and fruits with processed ready meals.

Being available is not equal to a person being able to afford it.

Maybe you were writing about middle class and not the poor?

by ponector2 hours ago|

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You don't need to be a middle class to be able to afford electric lights, mobile phones, apples, oranges and grapes all year round.

On the other hand kings had free-range organic grown meat prepared by personal cook anytime they wanted which is a true luxury even today.

by spwa41 hours ago|

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No they didn't. In castles meat wasn't very fresh at all, and food poisoning was both common and a common cause of death especially in medieval times. Which is why we have so many traditional dishes that are effectively just ways to keep food fresh and especially safe for longer. How many stew recipes did people invent worldwide, for example? Slow cooking will keep food edible for a week if you do it right. And if you really push it, for months (ie. add animal gelatin as a last step and keep cooking for 2 hours after that, at some point it will solidify and you get something that can be considered "instant soup" by extremely flexible interpretation). If you look back 100 years there are books with year-round menus, and bits of that survive. Why? To give you specific dishes when the ingredients are available according to the "agricultural calendar" as it's called in France. Christmas is great. October sucks.

The very oldest book in the bible contains the basic recipe for keeping meat fresh for ~week, and that's what Kosher, Halal, ... are really about.

And yeah, it depends. Roman emperors, for example, would have had fresh meat available whenever. Medieval kings, no way. Renaissance kings ... probably not constant fresh meat, and certainly not constant fresh fish, but a lot better than medieval kings.

by ninjalanternshk1 hours ago|

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Kings has dozens or hundreds of people who did all those things for them, and more, at their command.

by fodkodrasz3 hours ago|

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And none of these give them the freedom, agency, a past noble or a king had.

My parents had access to cheaper housing, less red-tape and fixed working hours, more job security than my generation, when I was born.

So now insert BUT THEY DIDN'T HAVE FLAT PANEL TV AND IPHONE in retarded Sponge Bob chicken meme here.

by dtj11232 hours ago|

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I'm not to certain about the healthcare and aircon.

by Two44 hours ago|

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I think it’s disingenuous to imply that there isn’t an inequality issue because the basic standard of living has advanced since the Middle Ages. Even if we compare the standard of living for say, Mississippi lower third and Uganda lower third, it’s obvious that you’re better off in Mississippi. However, the fact that the wealth and means to uplift the poor actually exists in the US but is not exercised is itself an issue - Uganda does not have that possibility.

by znpy3 hours ago|

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> Even if we compare the standard of living for say, Mississippi lower third and Uganda lower third, it’s obvious that you’re better off in Mississippi.

I mean, it’s no wonder people move from uganda to mississipi (or other places in the us) and not rhe other way around.

by defrost3 hours ago|

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Uganda's a popular destination with US evangelical bible belt Christians.

* https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2014/feb/25/us-evang...

by ndsipa_pomu1 hours ago|

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> America's poor today have clean water, health care

Clean water depends on how you define "clean" e.g. from https://www.theglobalstatistics.com/united-states-water-poll...

> Current EPA data reveals that nearly half of all tap water in the United States contains detectable levels of PFAS chemicals

There's also plenty of contamination violations (apart from maybe Hawaii with only 2) of the water supply.

As far as health care goes, I thought that most people in the USA will refuse to get an ambulance due to the expense. I've also heard of plenty of reports that poor people will not visit a doctor for minor health issues even though they may be early signs of much more serious issues.