The following article was written by Steven Moore who is one of Trump’s best economic advisors and has been a ‘go to man’ for other presidents before Trump. He knows his stuff.
But before I go any further, please read this article so you understand what is in issue. (Epoch Times requires a subscription to read articles. Hence, the following is a copy of the subject story.)
THE EPOCH TIMES
Why Are Americans So Pessimistic?
10/08/2026|
Updated: 10/11/2026
Commentary
In nearly every way, Americans have more material wealth, better housing, and more of just about everything than ever before. Not just the rich, but nearly everyone.
Americans’ standard of living is roughly 50 percent higher, after inflation, than it was 50 years ago.
The median family income is now close to $90,000. That’s an income level higher than that of 90 percent of families living in the rest of the world.
These ARE the good old days.
Yet over the past 30 years, nearly every poll has shown that a plurality of Americans think things are “headed in the wrong direction” versus “the right direction.” The latest polling is no different. Americans are glum.
Karlyn Bowman, an expert on polling at the American Enterprise Institute, has examined these trends.
She finds that there have only been two times in recent decades when voters said the country was headed in the right direction. One of these times was in the mid-1980s during the Reagan economic boom. The other was in the mid-1990s when Bill Clinton was president and the federal budget was balanced for the first time in 30 years.
So why are we not appreciating the overall progress of the country economically and financially?
It could be social trends, not economic trends. I’ve noted that the decline in marriage, parenthood, and religion has made people more depressed. A record 30 million American males between the ages of 20 and 40 are unmarried. Many of them are not happy with the direction of their own lives.
Bowman surmised that pessimism has grown with the size of government. People believe that the trends of government spending may not be sustainable.
Patriotism and love of country have fallen, so people don’t feel blessed to be in this country like they used to. One of the other few times when people briefly felt a rush of optimism and patriotism was after the 9/11 attacks.
There is also a more recent unhealthy development. That is the complete polarization of our society. President Donald Trump will never get an approval rating higher than 50 percent because half the country hates him. Republicans felt the same way—and for good reason—when Joe Biden was president.
But it’s weird that the richer and wealthier we get, the more people complain.
Money isn’t everything, and it can’t buy love or happiness.
But it sure beats being poor. And poverty rates just hit their lowest level on record. Isn’t that a sign we’re on the right track?
Steve makes it very clear that several things are being done to rectify our current situation.
Let’s look at what transpired over the past 12 years with Obama and Biden leadership and Trump’s six (so far).
1 – Barack Obama was elected as our president in 2008. During his two terms (8 years) he created very little positive in both terms. (Obamacare?) He did send over $150M in cash to Iran as a peace keeping token. And the result was, even more trouble overseas and a greater cost to help fix his first mistake – sending cash to a country that wants to kill us.
2 – Donald Trump was elected and immediately started repairing what Barack had damaged. He made over 300 major very positive changes in his first two years of office! That helped negate what his predecessor created in eight years – but only in four years.
3 – Joe Biden picked up the Barack baton and continued the advancement of Barack’s mission of “Fundamentally transforming the United States” – which still hasn’t been explained by Barack or the left. What was Joe’s accomplishments – fiscal disaster and international disgrace for the U.S. Economically we took a big hit and things got worse for most Americans. America’s safety was less than we’d seen in decades. Numerous countries were planning on attacking the U.S. – especially China which had its largest military in decades. Iran was right there, waiting for that last minute nuke to deliver to us. They were ready for war – win or lose.
4 – Trump won the next election and began an even faster attack than he did in his first term. By showing strength in office, countries began to back off, especially China. Their attack of Taiwan became a distant thought for the immediate future which gave the American public a breath of relief for fear of WWIII.
He also started building up our industrial complex to create more manufacturing jobs here in the U.S. than has been created since the 1980’s. Twenty-one trillion dollars were dedicated to the U.S. by foreign countries with the understanding that their companies would hire Americans. (Obviously this is a long-term improvement as it will take several years to get all of the infrastructure built and manpower with expertise employed.)
Many people had little or no faith in Trump and his ‘import tax plan’. However, in hindsight, the bottom line is that he is taking in trillions of dollars with his plans and that effort will produce ‘fruit’ – some sooner and some later.
Our current energy crisis is painful, but the Iran issue is not done yet. Our fuel fixes will be welcomed soon and probably stay that way for a long time with our being the oil king of the world.
Hardly no one mentions that the poorest of America have had a hand up for 50% of those in that group. i.e., out of poverty
I could go on, but Trump has laid the groundwork for a new successful America with an economy to take us decades into the future.
The bottom line is this. The American people need to be appreciative of what they ‘do have’, at least a little bit. If we had Biden again, we’d be in WWIII and all starving in food lines thanks to his confused leadership.
We must think positively and look to the future. The Americans of the 1930’s sacrificed a lot and helped the world to be a safer place by stamping out the Nazi threat. Today we are laying down a foundation for the future. Sacrifice goes a long way toward making a great country. Our forefathers suffered much more than our current generation and look what they did for ‘us’!
If we are fortunate enough to get a great republican president in office 2028, we could get a possible twelve-year string of presidents with good leadership to take us very long into the future.
Hopefully, the American public would be happy then.
Please take a few minutes to get out and VOTE!!! Your vote DOES count!!
