One of the issues I observe is that few Americans really have an understanding of the economy. Too often their feelings are dictated by gas prices, by their own

One of the issues I observe is that few Americans really have an understanding of the economy. Too often their feelings are dictated by gas prices, by their own personal income, or the stock market, IE: indicators, but not a holistic perspective. I know it is just a movie, but so often I have reflected on the end scene in Fight Club, where the Tyler Durden character is talking about the dichotomy of believing we'd all grow up to be rich and then discovering it's not reality. The American system is unforgiving. The past roughly 100 years saw us short rapidly from an agrarian economy to our current services-driven economy, where along the way we were told a college education was the path to wealth but the reality wasn't so simple. I don't have time to type a thesis here, but I can't blame people for feeling the way they feel even when the economic indicators are generally positive. While we're talking about it - a few days ago there was a thread about rural HNers. I would bet if you were to ask urban dwellers, especially in coastal cities, their perspective on the economy it might be very different than those of us in fly over country.