Just looking at gasoline prices is misleading. You need to look at how much people spend on gas, and on cars, insurance, maintenance, parking, commute in traffi

Just looking at gasoline prices is misleading. You need to look at how much people spend on gas, and on cars, insurance, maintenance, parking, commute in traffic etc. If gas is more expensive in Barcelona, but I can walk to work or take the subway there then quality of life might be much better there even with higher gas prices. Regarding the times objectively being pretty good, it depends what objectives you're using. Measures of consumer sentiment, for example, are similar to the 2008 financial crisis. I would think if your metrics all say the economy is good and people mostly say it's bad, then your metrics are probably broken.