I'm not really disagreeing (as GDP is a crude measure), but rather thinking out loud. I don't think my individual life satisfaction and optimism should be influ

I'm not really disagreeing (as GDP is a crude measure), but rather thinking out loud. I don't think my individual life satisfaction and optimism should be influenced by nation-state economics to the extent that that's what they're optimizing for. The job of my government is to create the conditions for security, prosperity and opportunity without oppressing the rest of the world or destroying the planet. But it's up to me to find a satisfying life within that and that is possible within drastically different economic and social structures. Similarly, there's probably not a set of conditions that gives universal satisfaction to all citizens, so what summary statistics of life satisfaction and optimism do we optimize for?