Why Don't Folks Love the Economy?

James K. Glassman, host of the blog TCS Daily, seems to have figured out why people are so unhappy about our growing economy. Here are excerpts from his column:

The global economy is roaring. "For the first time since 1969," reports . . . Bridgewater Daily Observations, "not a single country in the world has had negative year-over-year growth."

Overall, the world economy is rising at a 4.4 percent rate, after inflation. At that pace, Gross Domestic Product doubles in 17 years, quadruples in less than a generation. . .

Nearly half the world's population -- China, India, the former Soviet Union and its satellites has moved within 20 years from . . .autarky or communism toward a free-market system . . .

U.S. growth for 2005 was 3.5 percent -- slower than the world as a whole but . . . much brisker than Europe -- and the consensus of economists is predicting roughly the same for the year ahead. . .In the past year. . . America's output of goods and services has increased by nearly $1 trillion - or about $10,000 for every family. In the last five months alone, the U.S. has created 1 million net new jobs.

[So] why aren't Americans happier about it? . . . the Gallup Poll [reports] that more respondents fall into the negative camp now than during the 2001 recession. . .

[A] 2004 paper by Princeton economists Alan Blinder and Alan Krueger . . . finds that "ideology is the most important determinant...while measures of self-interest are least important." [And Gallup confirms] Americans who identify with the party in power "are more positive about the way things are going in the country." In other words, it's not reality but partisanship or ideology that determines one's view of the economic situation. . .

Let me offer another explanation. Globalization simply raises the level of anxiety for many workers, especially older people lacking technical skills. Even if . . . their lives are getting better, they worry much more about their own futures and those of their kids and grandkids.