Inflation, partisanship and the pandemic have made them glummer than the numbers suggest they should feel
I think the author just looked up statistics to reach a conclusion convenient to them.
Just ask the actual people. (Why didn’t they do interviews?) There are so many details lost in their cherrypicked numbers. Prices, wages, housings, they are very bad according to what I read online, contrary to what the author argues citing average growths. Maybe they have no grasp of reality anymore?
I don’t own a car and don’t use gas either. But my food, clothes, toiletries, mail, and lots of other things I need all probably required gas in order to get to me. If you live in a city, especially a US city, chances are high that you rely on gasoline a great deal just to get food, even if it’s only indirectly.
Sure I agree that inflation is linked to the cost of carbon fuels. We need to eliminate 80% of that but it will be painful and difficult.