Hundreds of Occupy Wall Street protesters arrested

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by August

I believe our problems are the natural result of the transition to a world economy. Standards of living have always been tied to economic strength so it necessarily follows that our standard of living has to fall as we increase the strength of the rest of the world.

Is that a comparative or an absolute value? As our economic strength falls are we actually worse off? I may be wrong, but it's my understanding that "standard of living" refers to how we live, and, though comparisons are made, it's not really comparative. Does Dowly enjoy a better standard of living than I do? As more countries obtain modern conveniences, or necessities, does that really lower my "standard of living"?

Originally Posted by CaptainMattJ.

per say

Per se. It's Latin, and means "by itself".