My point isn't that we have economic growth right now. My point is that you can't exactly cry poverty in this current economy. Most people are doing just fine and unemployment is still historically low. Gas at $3 per gallon isn't much more than it was 20 years ago when you adjust for inflation (which you must).

The problem is that people's expectations are getting way ahead of what our resources and technology can reasonably support due to the past 15 years of red hot growth.

What really is tweaking people is that they are having trouble affording the things that society has told them they need like a big screen TV or an iPhone. My parents were pretty average middle class but back in my childhood the idea of spending $400 on a music player would have been considered absurd. We didn't have cable TV nor did my parents buy me a $90 Nintendo NES. It just wasn't considered to be a priority.

Now people feel entitled to such things and go on to howl about the economy when they can't afford a 2,500 square foot house, the latest smart phone, or 10 CDs per month.

Anyway, my whole point is the economy doesn't suck and we are just way beyond spoiled. Our frame of reference for what is an acceptable standard of living is completely unreasonable.

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