The real reason why America needs economic growth.Ordinary Americans today enjoy a living standard that would have awed kings for most of human history.We live in homes conditioned to our ideal temperature in any season; drive vehicles that pack the power of 250 horses into a 100-square-foot metal frame; carry six-ounce rectangles that offer instant access to virtually any loved one, book, song, fact, or pornography; inhale gases that take the pain out of any surgery; replace our worn-out hips with titanium; glide 40,000 feet above the Earth in pressurized aluminum tubes; and eat ground beef wrapped in tacos made of Doritos.But we don’t seem that jazzed about it.Since 1996, America’s median household income (adjusted for inflation) has risen by 26 percent, enabling us to afford more flights, smartphones, and Gordita Supremes than ever before. And yet, over that same period, the share of Americans who described themselves as “not too happy” in the General Social Survey rose by 9 percentage points, while the segment calling themselves “very happy” shrank by more than 9.4 points.Meanwhile, measures of Americans’ economic confidence and consumer sentiment both declined. And in 2025, the percentage of Americans who were “very satisfied” with their personal lives hit an all-time low in Gallup’s polling.This disconnect between America’s rising prosperity and sagging spirits has grown more conspicuous in recent years. Since the middle of 2023 — when inflation returned to normal levels following the post-pandemic price spike — Americans’ real wages and net worths have ticked up. But the public’s mood has scarcely improved.
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100 sats \ 14 replies \ @grayruby 22h
Since 1996, America’s median household income (adjusted for inflation) has risen by 26 percent, enabling us to afford more flights, smartphones, and Gordita Supremes than ever before. And yet, over that same period, the share of Americans who described themselves as “not too happy” in the General Social Survey rose by 9 percentage points, while the segment calling themselves “very happy” shrank by more than 9.4 points.
Meanwhile, measures of Americans’ economic confidence and consumer sentiment both declined. And in 2025, the percentage of Americans who were “very satisfied” with their personal lives hit an all-time low in Gallup’s polling.
This disconnect between America’s rising prosperity and sagging spirits has grown more conspicuous in recent years. Since the middle of 2023 — when inflation returned to normal levels following the post-pandemic price spike — Americans’ real wages and net worths have ticked up. But the public’s mood has scarcely improved.
Yeah maybe the way wealth and inflation are being measured are total bullshit.
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21 sats \ 10 replies \ @SimpleStacker 22h
Or maybe wealth doesn't lead to happiness
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20 sats \ 8 replies \ @Undisciplined 21h
Properly defined, it seems like it has to.
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89 sats \ 6 replies \ @elvismercury 19h
What definition would you propose?
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121 sats \ 5 replies \ @Undisciplined 18h
Something that incorporates the value of non-market things.
Conceptually, something’s monetary value to its possessor is the amount they’d have to be paid to give it up.
So, your level of wealth is what you’d have to be offered to part with everything you value, including relationships and knowledge and such.
The major flaw is that many people are infinitely wealthy by that metric, which makes it pretty useless.
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225 sats \ 2 replies \ @elvismercury 18h
An issue that I think is foundational is that these things are dynamic. Even w/ a sophisticated mechanism to attribute the wealth from living closely to a bunch of friends who care about you and who you care about -- which is economically illegible but practically about the most important thing there is -- there's still the issue of adaptation, wherein the felt value of this source of wealth dissipates over time. You don't feel it nearly as much when you've had it for a year, vs when you've been starved for it. No seasoning like hunger, etc.
To my mind, this is reason for both optimism and pessimism. Optimism bc most of what ails anyone (or any modestly functioning civilization) is amenable to treatment for zero dollars; pessimism bc the prospect of people introducing these cycles into their lives is negligible.
Put another way, it doesn't matter how "wealthy" we get by the usual way of reckoning such things, nobody will feel better about it, and btc doesn't fix this.
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121 sats \ 1 reply \ @Undisciplined 18h
That last part depends on whether this is an inherent feature of modernity or if it’s a fiat induced high time-preference pathology.
The important part is that what is measurable gets optimized and we’re missing the immeasurable losses. I think there’s a growing awareness of this situation though.
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109 sats \ 0 replies \ @elvismercury 17h
I don't even think the culprit is modernity, except insofar as modernity has made vastly largely swathes of humans prosperous, post-scarcity for the "real" scarcities. But given the prevalence of the anomie throughout history -- of the wealthy, and wealthy civilizations, unhappy in similar ways -- I think the data tells a compelling story.
Hopefully I'm wrong, though.
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89 sats \ 1 reply \ @SimpleStacker 18h
changing how we measure wealth could solve the birth rate crisis
everyone complains about how kids are too expensive, but for most people having kids is likely a net increase in lifetime wealth, when measured including non-market valuations
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87 sats \ 0 replies \ @Undisciplined 18h
We just need to elicit true reservation prices from enough parents to be confident in our measure.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Solomonsatoshi 20h
Beyond a certain level it doesn't.
This is well established.
Add in the huge increase in inequality and 'the median' is suddenly not as representative as it once was.
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20 sats \ 0 replies \ @OT 15h
This
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40 sats \ 2 replies \ @0xbitcoiner OP 21h
It’s not really that, i think! I think @Undisciplined nailed it when he talked about prosperity definition.
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69 sats \ 1 reply \ @grayruby 21h
Agreed but I don't think I am wrong here. People's largest monthly expenses- housing, healthcare, education, healthy food have all gone up in price much faster than inflation. So while measured in fiat sure your income and paper wealth have increased but your purchasing power for the goods you need and want most has not, which is why people don't feel prosperous.
Even if we talk about people who have assets like real estate and stocks these are not outpacing money supply expansion thus even though you may be making more income, your share of the pie is shrinking.
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40 sats \ 0 replies \ @Undisciplined 21h
Declining product quality is the intensive margin of shrinkflation.
The cost of maintaining the same quality of life is outpacing inflation estimates.
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201 sats \ 5 replies \ @Undisciplined 23h
Clearly something is wrong with that definition of “prosperity”
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69 sats \ 2 replies \ @SimpleStacker 23h
Seems like it calls into question a lot of economic orthodoxies too, including perhaps some Austrian ones
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75 sats \ 1 reply \ @Undisciplined 23h
I think it’s more of a reminder that there’s lots of weirdly connected stuff in our utility functions.
The normal ceteris paribus reasoning is mostly fine. We’re just overlooking a bunch of tradeoffs that involve difficult to measure goods.
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144 sats \ 0 replies \ @SimpleStacker 23h
yeh, i'm not calling into question the method of economic reasoning. More calling into question the kind of commentary you see on CNBC, y'know where they say things like re-using your old printer instead of buying a new one may be good for your wallet but bad for the economy.
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69 sats \ 1 reply \ @0xbitcoiner OP 23h
So what you’re saying is that the definition of prosperity should be broader and include your state of mind?
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108 sats \ 0 replies \ @Undisciplined 23h
All value is subjective, so “prosperity” has always been related to states of mind.
We proxy for it with purchasing power because that’s sort of observable and measurable, but people have conflated the proxy with the real thing.
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67 sats \ 1 reply \ @denlillaapan 19h
The right hates the woke people, and the wookies don't like orange man. Ergo, everything must suck.
How's that for an explanation?
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @SimpleStacker 19h
Pretty accurate imo
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22 sats \ 4 replies \ @OT 15h
Having money or lots of stuff doesn't necessarily mean that you'll be happy.
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0 sats \ 3 replies \ @0xbitcoiner OP 15h
Yeah, money doesn't automatically buy happiness or health, but let’s be real, it helps a ton!
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0 sats \ 2 replies \ @SimpleStacker 15h
I think it's probably inverse U shaped. At some more money just becomes a headache, sometimes in ways you can't even control, like people befriending you because you're rich, or family fighting over inheritance issues
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21 sats \ 1 reply \ @0xbitcoiner OP 15h
Man, I wish those were my only problems! ~lol
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @OT 15h
Soon enough anon
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10 sats \ 0 replies \ @SHA256man 21h
one hidden hands makes improvements to life, another hidden hand creates friction for life;
it's an illusion of true progress, which shud be astronomical and exponential in reality;
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Angie 7h
Pero quién dijo que poseer muchos bienes es sinónimo de felicidad, soy pobre, y recibí ayuda económica cuando el COVID de amigos, pero cuando nos pudimos abrazar eso fue especial , es amor, y eso no se compra por eso todos estamos insatisfechos porque estamos cambiando lo natural por lo material.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @winteryeti 18h
Well let's see:
-The facade of homes is a farce, mortgages are sky high and many people are multi-generations under one roof to save money and protect family. Plus many are in homes that are 20+ years old and eat up a lot of funds on repairs now.
-You can talk about new cars but no one is buying; we're all repairing old vehicles and keeping them going on the road. The average vehicle is now creeping up to 10+ years.
-Jobs that pay? What jobs? AI is wiping them out and leaving nothing for new hires. Those who have jobs are locking down and not moving to protect what they have.
-Government has proven to be useless for the last 15 years. Lots of talk about doing things and tearing down the other guy's program, but nothing in terms of actual economic improvement. Add in the fact that we are a service economy now and produce nothing in manufacturing, and the longterm prognosis for economic growth is nil.
-Inflation is up, cost of food and gas are double and yet wages are dropping. Do the math.
-People are relying more and more on safety net programs to make the gap to the end of the month, and yet those programs are getting cut. Instead, we're seeing billions of dollars being spent on a police state and nothing to show for it. Again, do the math.
And you wonder why Americans are upset.
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