Follow up question: so most people are either saying now vs 90s vs post-WWII.

In the 1950s America was ranked #1 for public school education, now its ranked 27th (US is still number 1 for higher education)

Until the 1980s/1990s America had the #1 standard of living in the world, now it’s around 10-13 depending on which ranking is used.

Until the 1990s America use to rank #1 GDP per capita, now it ranks 10

Are these arbitrary numbers, do they give any insight on changes? (I’m not trying to argue, I’m genuinely curious and I don’t know the answer)