How Can America Be So Miserable When It’s So Rich?

The American economy is the envy of the world.

Actual Americans, however, are not happy about their economy, and they’ve been unhappy about it for a long time.

Both of those statements are true, and until recently, frankly, they stumped me. How could it possibly be rational to feel such prolonged pessimism in the face of such extraordinary economic growth?

Over the last quarter-century, G.D.P. growth in the United States has far outpaced growth in Europe and Japan, two of our primary economic competitors (outside of India and China), to such an extent that many of Europe’s most........

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