I am baffled as to how smart people do not understand what is going on here. When most people read “US economy” they start to include “US government”. It is extremely possible for individuals to be doing fine right now, even doing better! And for Florida to be doing fine right now, even doing better! And to also be aware that the US government has been spending money like an entire fleet of drunken sailors and is very very much not in good financial shape. As the scope of the question gets wider, people start thinking about the bigger picture and thinking in wider temporal terms as well. And over a longer time slice… yeah, the US economy is in terrible shape. This doesn’t seem like rocket science.

Looking forward to explaining to my daughter that ghosts don’t exist, and this is how we know.