Ezra Klein

So here's the question about this, because I largely agree with that diagnosis.

And I also agree that American politics is tremendously corrupted by money.

And that sense that the country, the system is not working for Americans

Are Americans right about that?

And here's how I want to maybe steel man the other side of this.

A couple years ago, there was this big covering The Economist.

They basically said, if you look at the American economy, it is crushing the economies of the rest of the world.

You wouldn't want to be Europe rather than us.

You wouldn't want to be China, where the medium disposable income is at $6,000.

You wouldn't want to be Russia, trapped in this morass of a war with Ukraine.

There's no one you would want to be rather than America.

But in this period, the vibe, so to speak, they just get worse and worse and worse.

This has been confusing for economists.

If you look at most measures, we're not doing that bad.

Inflation is not that high anymore.

I mean, the price level didn't go back down, but we're back to pretty normal levels of inflation.

You have had income growth in the bottom half of the country.

You have people acting in a way that does not reveal financial stress.

They are spending.

They are taking on debt.