Reddit reviews Rise and Fall of American Growth, The (The Princeton Economic Series of the Western World)

If you have the time, Robert Gorden's book, "The Rise and Fall of American Growth" is pretty eye-opening. [1] He also talks about inequality as a major headwind to growth, and makes a compelling argument that the data show that biggest transformation – unmatched even by the personal computer and IT revolution – was bringing electricity and plumbing into the home.

Then there's the Princeton study that shows money can make people happier, but that the effect levels off at around $75k a year.

I think it was while reading Bill McKibben's book "Eaarth" [3] that I was surprised to discover that back in the 1970s, polling showed that Americans were actually pretty open to a different economic model – one more about sustainability and well-being than growth.

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1: https://www.amazon.com/Rise-Fall-American-Growth-Princeton/dp/153661825X

2: https://www.princeton.edu/~deaton/downloads/deaton_kahneman_high_income_improves_evaluation_August2010.pdf

3: https://www.amazon.com/Eaarth-Making-Life-Tough-Planet/dp/0312541198

We never should have let teachers pretend to be responsible for our children so that we could pretend they were ok and we were good. The teachers are threatening to stop playing along with this game.

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Yes. At first it was about society. You cared about children because you cared about citizenship or at least posterity. Then it used to be think about the children themselves - as in there used to have to be children present. You cared about teachers because you cared about children and we projected good qualities upon teachers. Then it became being a teacher was hard work because (the kids were bad, the parents were bad, the government was mean). Now being a teacher (in America) I infer is an implication that our priorities are off. People are getting snippy at teachers because they are scolding us as adults.

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Being a teacher is an easy job almost anyone can do. The reason this is hard to talk about is that the same is true for almost every job including that of the reader. Being a good teacher is a hard job almost nobody can do, which mutatis mutandis is also true for the reader - where we generally know in our heart that we're not doing our best in life and it is easy to project incompetence, sloth and entitlement upon others when we actually all share in these qualities.

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Or perhaps the terminal decline in prosperity is finally hitting home. This is a good book about how you will die:

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https://www.amazon.com/Rise-Fall-American-Growth-Princeton/dp/153661825X

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