Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism

[Esquilax]

Yet there is no us, when it comes to society. No matter how well a society is doing, there are still people getting the ass end. Quite a large proportion, growing as it is, after the last crash. That's true for Europe and the USA. The people worrying over elm trees certainly aren't the ones hunting for their next meal or some roof over their heads.

So, in my opinion, the hype over how well a certain society is doing, is misplaced, as long as millions live in abject poverty and their offspring doesn't stand much of a chance to do better.

Part of that is just a function of the fact that societal wellness is a relative term, though. Regardless of how well a culture is doing, there are always going to be people qualitatively living at the lower end of it, because there can't not be a lower end without the kind of intricate economical monitoring that is both outside our computational abilities right now, and also really, really invasive.

The fact that some people get shafted by a system isn't an argument for ignoring societal well-being, however: it's an argument for improving it further. 99 percent is not zero percent, and room for improvement doesn't mean the metric being used is irrelevant.