I was nodding along until I got to this bit:<p>> The model fits well—almost too well—the current American reality. The median person is the “deplorable” (to quote Hillary Clinton), a populist (to quote the mainstream media), a Hillbilly (to quote J. D. Vance) or one of the candidates for the deaths of despair (to quote Anne Case and Angus Deaton).<p>The average American is surprisingly sane politically, going by opinion polls so I don't see any basis for suggesting the median person is a deplorable or populist (in the negative sense of being a dupe for powerful interests, not the positive sense of liking things that are popular and help a wide number of people).<p><a href="https://www.citizen.org/news/progressive-policies-are-popular-policies/" rel="nofollow">https://www.citizen.org/news/progressive-policies-are-popula...</a><p>> Three-quarters of Americans say the tax system favors the rich and has too many loopholes. Three-quarters say that the wealthiest and large corporations should pay more in taxes. More than six in 10 Republicans agree. Sixty percent of Americans favor a wealth tax on those with more than $50 million in assets. (Consider: Only three-quarters of Americans correctly state that the earth revolves around the sun.)