Are there trees that old? — Cartuna
As a generalization, there have been periods of real growth. For instance, the post WWII boom brought real growth (increases in real income) for about 30 years. During the last 45 years, real wages have decreased by a minimum of 25% for most working class people. The cause has been stagnant wages and inflation.
Now, if you want a period of time when economic growth was a real drag, take the period between the collapse of the Roman Empire (say, 600 a.d. to around 1400 a.d. for a round figures) the annual growth rate was 1/100th of a percent. People could look forward to a 1% increase in income per century. As it happens, those 800 years were not terrible for everyone. Life was just very stable. — Bitter Crank
BTW, there is a specific tree, a great basin bristlecone pine, that is over 5,000 years old. No, you can't go see the tree; it's location is secret. If the assholes of the world knew where the tree was, it wouldn't be there anymore — Bitter Crank
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