As to 'bad and getting worse', juxtaposed with 'reports that everything is all right' -- there is plenty of production in the system. There is plenty of money.
An unacknowledged political decision is that we get reports on totals and averages, only. If plenty of resources exist, it is a point of ideology that that *must* be success, because a good and just system like ours *must* be distributing resources fairly and survivably.
But in actuality, the distribution of resources has been getting worse for decades. After the last two recessions, approximately ALL of the 'recovery' went to the richest part of our population. Approximately NONE of it went to the vast majority of regular people. Which is why we experience and observe that things are hard, while being told that things are fine.
TL/DR: The things are fine, but we don't get them. Billionaires are hogging all the things.
no subject
An unacknowledged political decision is that we get reports on totals and averages, only. If plenty of resources exist, it is a point of ideology that that *must* be success, because a good and just system like ours *must* be distributing resources fairly and survivably.
But in actuality, the distribution of resources has been getting worse for decades. After the last two recessions, approximately ALL of the 'recovery' went to the richest part of our population. Approximately NONE of it went to the vast majority of regular people. Which is why we experience and observe that things are hard, while being told that things are fine.
TL/DR: The things are fine, but we don't get them. Billionaires are hogging all the things.