Sure, someone will say "there's never been a better time to be alive than right now." Maybe. But here's the thing—the *next* moment could be even better, right?

The real problem isn't whether we've made progress. It's that we're telling people stuck in very real poverty that they're actually doing fine. We've built a financial system that masks dysfunction, then acts surprised when folks trapped in it can't see a way out.

Call it what you want—systemic blindness, convenient narratives—but gaslighting the struggling into thinking everything's great? That's not progress. That's just maintaining the status quo while the wealth gap keeps widening.