I mean, that is definitely true, but also kind of the observation that drives a lot of MAGA - visible progress in construction, engineering, and physical goods

I mean, that is definitely true, but also kind of the observation that drives a lot of MAGA - visible progress in construction, engineering, and physical goods is an important part of how people "experience" the economy. It is easier to look at a new house with a big screen TV and experience progress than a new app. Even if the app transforms our lives and our knowledge, intermediated socializing is still something recognizably similar to what we all know how to do without the intermediation. There's nothing indirect about boarding a high speed train, or seeing a skyscraper rise out of the ground. IMO, the biggest challenge is that we don't use metrics that accurately convey the change in the physical environment and the physical capital that we have and must maintain. In illustration, in today's dollars, 15 years of paint budget for the Golden Gate Bridge is about the same cost as building the Golden Gate Bridge. In nominal dollars, we spent $35m to build the bridge (in 1937), and last year we spend $97m to paint it. its hard for people to see the progress in maintenance, and so the incredible progress of our forebears becomes our burden, and the consumptive effects of maintenance weigh on the west while the east experiences the novelty of real, direct progress.