Everything is Terrible

And Kevin Drum has the charts to prove it. One thing I will say, though, is that I think social democratic sorts have gotten a little too emotionally invested in trying to convince people that economic conditions are terrible. In terms of building support for policy solutions, I think this kind of thing is sort of neither here nor there. Even given massive inequality, low levels of social mobility, and stagnant wages, the United States is still a very rich place in historical or global terms.

The task is convincing people that liberals have ideas that will make things better. Insofar as people believe your ideas will improve things, it doesn't matter whether they think the status quo is great, terrible, okay, or whatever else. Conversely, if people think things are bad but your ideas are reckless and awful, then that doesn't do any good.