I think you are daydreaming. It is actually the people in academia and government whose job is to maintain this illusion which has tricked you.
Look at the US economy it’s the strongest it’s ever been. Maybe that’s not a good indicator for the rest of the world?
Let’s look at some of the poorest countries? Have they improved over the last 20 years or gone south?
I don’t think I’m day dreaming, I’m working hard and building things. I can sit there and speculate or I can worry about impacting things.
I agree there is a large amount of division and political risk in the US.
Edit: but still we are far from the world ending.
More concretely, home buying is a cornerstone of the American economic system, but a combination of income stagnation, student loan debt, and absurd overpricing nationwide has priced out much of the "millennial" demographic. In my local area, shoddy houses are going for $700k, but nobody approaching 30 is buying anything. That sort of thing just isn't sustainable. And this is from the point of view of having a good tech income, which is a bubble.