Lassman just nailed MAGA and modern Republicans in a nutshell.

“If the United States’ economy were an athlete, right now it would be peak LeBron James. If it were a pop star, it would be peak Taylor Swift. Four years ago, the pandemic temporarily brought much of the world economy to a halt. Since then, America’s economic performance has left other countries in the dust and even broken some of its own records. The growth rate is high, the unemployment rate is at historic lows, household wealth is surging, and wages are rising faster than costs, especially for the working class. There are many ways to define a good economy. America is in tremendous shape according to just about any of them.” [Source]

Part of the reason Americans don’t realize it is that we have very biased, anecdotal, and skewed interpretations of our feelings about the economy..

Full contextual analysis of Section 4.6: Trade here.