For me, having a car is a necessity that borders on being a burden. Do I have a car, or must I have a car?

Ah, the first world.

We are burdened by the necessity of laundering our bed sheets so we do not have to sleep with parasites.

We are burdened by the necessity of refrigerators so we do not have to worry about eating spoiled food.

We are burdened by having to take antibiotics so we don't die of infection.

We are burdened by the need to charge our smartphones and pay for data plans so we can use devices that would have made Jules Verne swoon.

That automobile which was once a rare luxury item (and before that an impossible fantasy) is now "merely" a safe, efficient, comfortable, and relatively affordable machine that enables you to get to your climate controlled, 9-to-5 workplace without breaking a sweat.

Is there anything in the big picture that should not lead to cries of joy and gratitude from almost everyone? There's one thing...

I doubt that income inequality tends to promote a feeling of well-being for all parties.

Let's ignore the lack of hard data and assume that the correlation is strong. Therefore, the evil consequence of the poor getting richer and the rich getting richer at a different rate is that some people's feelings might get hurt.

the goal posts are always moving

This is the very proof of progress, that the goal posts keep moving in the same direction. It's understandable that people's feelings are not based on the long, global view. But when we step back and talk about the subject, I think we should try to be more objective and recognize the positive trends in measurable life quality factors. As for feelings, the Easterlin Paradox is an area of active research.