From a land point of view the millionaire of today can't buy nearly as much with his money as the millionaire of 50 years ago.

From a textiles, electronics and consumer item standpoint the value per dollar is way up when compared to 50 years ago.

Computers, digital cameras and camcorders, picture phones, flat screens, GPS navigation in vehicles - all these things are a FAR better value per dollar than they would have been had they emerged in 1956.

The rich of yesteryear had several houses (usually a city home or townhouse, a country home and a vacation home) and a few automobiles. In 1956 they might've picked up a Lincoln Continental for 13k (a scandalous sum for a car), a Cadillac and perhaps a sporty 2 seater Ford Thunderbird or Chevrolet Corvette.

Being rich meant having a few valuable antiques, 2 to 4 complete sets of fine serving china capable of serving a party of 24, a portfolio of Van Cleef & Arpels jewels as well as a plethora of costume jewelry. It meant spending money on tailored clothes and couture for both wife and husband.

The reality is the upper middle class (150k-1 million) have more buying power in these material items because of mass production, foreign manufacturing, more competition and cheaper manufacturing processes.

The millionaire of yesteryear looked better, dressed better and owned more land. They spent more time traveling, had memberships in country clubs, & entertained far more than their counterparts of today.

The millionaire of today has access to better medical care & possessions while being land poor and generally looking like everyone else.