On the Claim by Some that the Industrial Revolution in England Made Life Worse for People

That is total bullshit. The standard of living went up consistently throughout this period and while it may not have ascended as fast as we would have liked in the earlier parts, I blame that much more on the fact that England was almost in a state of perpetual warfare and that they were financing this imperialism through a series of regressive taxes that disproportionately harmed the working folks.............................................................................................Of course, if these facts aren't enough of an argument for you, I ask you to compare what was happening in England at that time to places in which the Industrial Revolution WASN'T happening; Ireland (hundreds of thousands of people perishing from the potato famine), Calcutta, South America, etc., or even to England itself in prior centuries. I mean, I know that a lot of people get their history out of Charles Dickens novels and all but you really have to have some context and perspective or you start to look like a tool (get it - a tool, Industrial Revolution?).