Relatively speaking... Cultural optimism is likely to follow periods of growth and abundance, like buying a property in the 1970s for $5K and selling it in the

Relatively speaking... Cultural optimism is likely to follow periods of growth and abundance, like buying a property in the 1970s for $5K and selling it in the 2000s for $2M. The last couple of decades have seen a reversal of this effect, so I don't think it's unreasonable that more people are feeling pessimistic about the future and their place in it.