In Jane Galt, there is a nice post on the improvement in economic conditions for everyone since the seventies. I was particularly struck by her response to the contention that it was harder to buy a house and a car with her noting that a higher percentage of people had them.

Father Postel, in charge of my alma mater, had the freshman to a retreat this Saturday. The kids had 'Agnostocere' on their shirts. The point was to know your relation to God. Each was to see himself as acceptably a different person (in that relationship). He had 5 volunteers come forward and taught them, as an example of a group action, 'dress right dress' which is how a platoon would space themselves to march abreast. They struggled, in answer to his question, as to what the school was; answer, 'a community.' And the point was that they didn't have to answer religious questions just by themselves. (We have in the internet a marvelous chance to create virtual communities for discussion, viz.) Then Father Postel had the most interesting observation from the Gospel of Mark. Jesus told the apostles 'to be quiet' about the answer that he was the Messiah the first time this came up in repsonse to 'Who do you think I am?' Father Postel then asked the students when Jesus realized he was God and, after they mumbled, said that the evidence in Mark would suggest that he grew into this realization, also noted that Jesus was "fully human" according to doctrine.