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Republicans. Democrats. Why Am I Still Getting Screwed? · Common Sense - Red State Finance

• 0:00
  [upbeat music] From Red State Finance, this is Common Sense: the news, the money, and the nonsense explained for people who think. Here are your hosts, Cole and Savannah. Is America in decline?
• 0:17
  Whew, starting easy today. It's the question everybody argues about at Thanksgiving, so we did the math. Fifty years, four subjects, real numbers. And Savannah, some of it surprised me. Today, on Common Sense.
• 0:33
  We spend more per kid than almost anybody, so why are math scores back in the nineties? How Americans' trust in each other got cut in half. Why Congress acts like a reality show.
• 0:44
  And whether this is a fall or just a rough patch. That's all coming up. Stick around. [upbeat music] All right. Welcome to Common Cents from Red State Finance. Not left. Not right. Just over it. I'm Savannah.
• 1:02
  I'm Cole, and today we're taking on the big one. Is America in long-term decline? And before anybody emails us, we're not doom scrolling today. We're doing a 50-year report card.
• 1:14
  Four subjects: education, culture, politics, and science. What got worse, what got better, and what's actually driving it. All right, teacher, first subject. Education. And Cole, this one's rough.
• 1:29
  The government's long-term test, they call it the Nation's Report Card, shows 13-year-olds' math scores fell back to about where they were around 1990. Reading's the lowest in roughly 20 years.
• 1:42
  And we're not cheap about it, right? We spend more than $15,000 per student per year in public schools. That's one of the highest in the world. And the international rankings?
• 1:53
  Math, below the average for developed countries, behind a lot of Asia and Europe. So we're paying first class prices and getting a middle seat. Pretty much.
• 2:03
  And colleges say a lot of freshmen need remedial math and reading. So where's the money going? A lot of it, not the classroom.
• 2:11
  Since the early nineties, non-teaching staff in public schools grew more than twice as fast as the number of students. More administrators, same teachers. And then add screens. Kids spend hours a day on short videos.
• 2:26
  It's hard to read a book when your brain's used to a new clip every eight seconds. I can't read a book either, honestly. I know. I've seen your nightstand. Report card? Education gets a D, and it's not the kids' fault.
• 2:39
  [upbeat music] Okay. Culture. And I want to be careful because culture turns into a fight real fast. So stick to numbers. Sticking to numbers.
• 2:51
  Fifty years ago, you had bowling leagues, church groups, the Elks, neighborhood stuff. That's how people knew each other. And now?
• 3:00
  There's a long-running survey that asks Americans a simple question: Can most people be trusted? In the early seventies, almost half said yes. Now, it's about a quarter. Cut in half. Cut in half.
• 3:14
  And when you can't trust your neighbor, everything gets harder: business, politics, raising kids. And social media poured gasoline on it. The apps are built to keep you angry because angry people keep scrolling.
• 3:27
  That's the business model. Outrage pays. We used to all watch the same news and argue about it. Now, everybody gets their own custom version of reality. And then we wonder why Thanksgiving's so tense. Report card?
• 3:40
  Culture, C-minus. We traded the neighborhood for the group chat. Politics. Oh, boy. Here's the trust number.
• 3:49
  Back in the sixties, about three out of four Americans said they trusted the federal government to do the right thing most of the time. Pew's latest, about one in five. And trust in the news isn't any better.
• 4:02
  Gallup has it at a record low. Under three in ten Americans trust the media. So why is Washington so stuck? Part of it is primaries. A small slice of the most fired-up voters on each side picks the candidates.
• 4:16
  So if a politician reaches across the aisle, they get primaried by their own party. Add gerrymandering, where a lot of seats are safe no matter what. And money, a lot of money. And local newspapers dying.
• 4:29
  Nobody's at the city council meeting anymore, taking notes. Congress used to pass real budgets on time. Now, they mostly make clips for cable news and fundraising emails. And this is both sides.
• 4:41
  Both parties do the theater. Both parties run up the debt. Not left. Not right. Just over it. Okay. Quick break before science, because I need a second.
• 4:53
  The Red State Finance shop has our Not Left, Not Right, Just Over It tee. Links in the show notes. Official uniform of being over it. Report card for politics? D, and that's being generous. [upbeat music] Okay. Science.
• 5:09
  And here's where it gets interesting, because this one isn't all bad. Good. I need some good news.
• 5:16
  In the last 50 years, America gave the world the internet, GPS, mRNA vaccines, gene editing, rockets that land themselves. That's a pretty good list.
• 5:26
  And our universities and private investors still lead the world in new tech. But? But trust in science got dragged into politics, and there's a real replication problem.
• 5:38
  When researchers tried to redo 100 published psychology studies, only about a third got the same results. A third? So two out of three nobody could repeat? That's what that project found.
• 5:50
  Medicine has had the same problem. And here's what bugs me. Fifty years ago, our smartest people were building moon rockets.
• 5:58
  Now, some of the brightest engineers in the country spend all week getting teenagers to scroll longer. Report card? Science gets a B Brilliant kid, distracted So what's driving all of it? I'd say three things.
• 6:12
  One, an economy that rewards quick money over building things. Two, the collapse of local news, so outrage fills the gap. And three, nobody at the top ever pays a price.
• 6:24
  School boards lower standards so graduation rates look good. Politicians run up the debt and get reelected. Executives wreck a company and walk away with a golden parachute. Nobody gets fired.
• 6:36
  [upbeat music] So fact or fairy tale? America is doomed. Rome all over again. Fairy tale, and I mean that. We still have huge advantages.
• 6:49
  Energy and natural resources, the deepest money markets in the world, the world's reserve currency, and people still wanna come here and start businesses. Decline is a choice, not a destiny. So kitchen table takeaway.
• 7:04
  What can one family actually do? Number one, own your kid's education. Don't count on the school to do all of it. Reading at home and less screen time. Number two, get off the outrage machine.
• 7:17
  Unfollow the accounts that just make you mad. Go to the local meeting. Talk to your actual neighbors. Number three, demand accountability from both parties.
• 7:28
  Vote for people who'll actually balance a budget, not the ones who give the best speech. And number four, the money part. Teach your kids how money works. Saving, debt, interest. Most schools still don't.
• 7:41
  Not financial advice, just common sense. That's the show, Savannah. That's the show. And if the politics part got you curious, there's a guide for that in the vault. Our digital library.
• 7:53
  It's called The Real History of the Two Political Parties, how both parties started and how they ended up close to the opposite of where they began. Same treatment for both sides. Five bucks.
• 8:04
  Way cheaper than a history class. And shorter. Plus, the free newsletter every Sunday goes deeper on all of it, with every source. Links are in the description. Report card for the episode? A+. I'm Savannah. I'm Cole.
• 8:19
  Stay sharp. And stay over it. [upbeat music] You've been listening to Common Sense from Red State Finance. If this made you think, share it with one person who needs to hear it.
• 8:31
  Get the free Common Sense newsletter every Sunday at redstatefinance.com. Grab a guide from the vault and your gear from the Red State Finance store.
• 8:40
  And follow Red State Finance on YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and X. New episodes every Friday. Common Sense for people who think.