‘Everything Is Terrible, but I’m Fine’
A mentality that explains a lot about the economy, electoral politics, and human nature
by Derek Thompson
Jun 01, 2022
3 minutes
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In May, the Federal Reserve published a report on the economic well-being of American households in 2021. This survey is infamous for revealing, in 2013, that half of Americans couldn’t cover a $400 emergency with spare cash. An Atlantic magazine cover story called it “The Secret Shame of the Middle Class.”
In , the findings were surprisingly positive, especially given the relentless heartrending punishment that is the 2020s news cycle. Self-reported financial well-being increased to the highest percentage in the nine-year
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