Episode

Americans Should Be Happy, But They're Not

Podcast
Where It All Starts
Published
May 18, 2026
Duration seconds
1159
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not_requested
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https://www.spreaker.com/episode/americans-should-be-happy-but-they-re-not--72052597
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https://api.spreaker.com/download/episode/72052597/8904746.mp3
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/v1/public/podcasts/where-it-all-starts-7043127/episodes/americans-should-be-happy-but-they-re-not
Markdown
/podcast/where-it-all-starts-7043127/americans-should-be-happy-but-they-re-not.md

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Summary

It's rather obvious Americans have not exactly been … cheerful for the last few years. And it's showing up in the data – the General Social Survey , the Consumer Sentiment Survey from the University of Michigan , the World Happiness Report , and even the Federal Reserve all report that Americans are less happy than they were a decade ago. Whether that's with their jobs, the economy, the state of the world – no matter the metric, Americans are not having it. To find out why we're feeling down, we spoke with Derek Thompson. He's the co-author of the book "Abundance," and he writes a popular Substack called, well, Derek Thompson.And in headlines, President Donald Trump is once again threatening Iran via Truth Social , House Speaker Mike Johnson talks about the administration's priorities , and Taiwan's president stresses the importance of arms purchases from the United States .Show Notes: Check out Derek's piece – https://tinyurl.com/zzsjpf7a Call Congress – 202-224-3121 Subscribe to the What A Day Newsletter – https://tinyurl.com/y4y2e9jy What A Day – YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcast Follow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/ For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday