Something interesting I found this morning on actual living conditions during the 19th century. Referring to the Industrial Revolution, which stretched from the late 1700s through the late 1800s, I found the following:
According to the historian T.S. Ashton, one reason that standard of living did not improve during industrialization... was that most of a person’s income would go towards rent and other necessities such as food and drink. People didn’t have enough extra money or any leftover money because of the fact that most of the money went to housing and food. Often, people wouldn’t have enough money after rent to even purchase food to feed the entire family, which led to rationing of the food that they had been able to purchase. Sometimes people wouldn’t even be able to eat due to their jobs dissipating or most of their checks going to housing. Although there was an increase of supplies for clothing, such as fabrics, many people of the working class could not afford them, which made them look more impoverished. Many of these lower class workers were subjected to awful working conditions and had less regulations in place at their jobs, were getting paid much less, which in turn made things worse for them. In modern diction, it would be said that they could barely make ends meet.
Yet another way to show that standard of living did not increase is literacy rate. According to an article by Stephen J. Nicholas and Jacqueline M. Nicholas, not only did literacy not grow during the Industrial Revolution, but actually decreased for most of it... Many people in the upper classes benefited during this time, however, the majority of people that were being affected by industrialization were the people in poverty and immigrants. They were suppressed by dirty tenant housing which often was crammed with too many inhabitants. These people were dealing with poor working conditions due to industrialization, and also had depressing conditions at home, including very little money, overworked families, and not enough food to go around. The overall effect of the Industrial Revolution on standard of living was positive for those in the higher classes, but much more negative for the working class.
The Standard of Living in Europe During the Industrial Revolution – Foundations of Western Culture:
I found the latter insights especially telling. In short, the rich got much richer while the poor got much poorer, which is essentially that same thing predicted by the dream. And as also stated in my interpretation, the increase in inflation will eventually make food and housing the primary concern because that's all people will be able to afford any more.
But again, I think these things will largely apply especially to the world and those not serving God. For those willing to give themselves entirely to His service, there will be ample provision, because provision will not be their primary concern. Serving God and others will be.
