Policy should be made for the benefit of the average citizen, not some insane abstract notion of the economy or national interests (aka ugly American d*ck-waving. “WE’RE THE BIGGEST! WE’RE THE BEST! RAH! RAH! RAH”). Really, who gives a flying flip?

The economy is there to benefit the average person. We’re not there to benefit the economy. National interests are only important as far as they benefit people living in a given country. Not as some sort of abstract chest-thumping patriotic idea.

And real standard of living has gone down since the 1990s. OK, people have more tablets and smartphones, but so what? If anything, those devices are more of a leash than a liberator. As long as you have the things in hand, you can’t really disconnect from work or other personal worries.

Longer working hours, but lower rate of employment. Damage to groundwater from fracking. More surveillance since 9/11. Worse food (more HFCS/more obesity). Higher college costs for four-year schools, and less ability to graduate debt-free. Overly rapid industrialization of third-world pestholes, impacting the global environment.