Oh really? You live better today than John D Rockefeller did at his peak.
Oh really? How do you define "live better"?
I really dislike this common refrain. It usually centers around the argument that we live in a time where modern necessities would have been marvels in the past (refrigerators, TVs, medical advances). As if Rockefeller would trade his vast empire for a refrigerator and three jobs!
It ignores the facts that less privileged modern humans have less financial and social security, less free time, suffer more from stress and food insecurity, eat less healthy foods, and often have to choose between work and spending significantly quality time with their own children.
By my metrics, American slaves did not live better than Roman emperors. The modern middle class does not live better than the wealthiest from a century ago. The privileged live better because they can meet higher order needs, pursue their own goals, and pay others to do all the labor that would otherwise occupy their time (cooking, cleaning, growing food, even making money by managing their capital). Have you seen what a family office does?