FediLore + Fedidrama

I would not say that - for one thing we have nukes - but while there is much room for subtlety and nuance, there are aspects that are not entirely unlike a third-world nation...

But more to the point, while the direction that the country is turning into may be that way, the current status of living for most people is quite high. Though that too gets more complex to measure b/c if you talk about e.g. a boomer, then Americans have one of if not the highest standard of living in the world (I might be wrong about that, but it's at least "high" I think?), whereas e.g. a gen-alpha has significantly less hope for their own future.

Although the latter could change rapidly with a change in e.g. housing pricing, or more relevant, changes in laws that would allow newer housing units to be created (b/c they are sources of income for people who already have multiple homes, there is an incentive to disallow new ones to be created that would lower the value of their equity, thus leading to restrictive markets catering to that segment of society).

In any case, it is most definitely a time of turmoil. One side is fighting to offer aid to e.g. hurricane survivors, while the other side is calling for literal war and bloodshed of the other. This tends to put a damper on conversations with the latter side.