IF AMERICA’S SO RICH, HOW’D IT GET SO SAD?

As the lede chart in this article shows, something very very strange has happened to Americans’ self-reported happiness this decade.

My theory is that the pandemic never ended—not “the pandemic” as in the coronavirus, but rather “the pandemic” as in the complex set of economic, social, institutional, and communications trends that emerged from the 2020-21 period and have not gone away.

Inflation makes today's life feel harder to live. The news cycle makes tomorrow's world scarier to live through. And the post-pandemic decline of institutions and acceleration of toxic individualism weakens our socio-emotional immune system to deal with all of it.