Following the narrative provided by the Democrats last week in Denver; one could be left feeling pretty awful about the state of the US. In fact, one wonders why we haven't had major protests in the streets, if we are in fact in such dire straights.
Then I read two articles (links below) and realized I was being sold a storyline; one that does not reflect the lives the vast majority (over 85%) of Americans are living. I don't doubt that life is hard for the 15% of Americans at the bottom, and life at the top is pretty easy in comparison ... but for the 70% in the middle, life is going just fine (according to polls at least). Of course, that would not really make for a compelling campaign slogan.
Most interesting is that polls show that while a vast majority of Americans are happy with their current situations, they do believe the US is headed in the wrong direction.
The policy implications seem clear, make policies to improve the lives of the bottom 15%; but don't screw up the other 85% while you're trying to fix the bottom 15%.
Political Diary WSJ
I'm alright, but country isn't; Times Online
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