What can you learn about money, delusions and happiness from Donald Trump?

Make America Great Again.

That was the slogan.

Donald Trump won the presidency based on widespread belief that America’s economy is in the toilet, crime is at toe-curling heights, and life was better in the 1950s. He promised to make America great…again.

There’s plenty to learn from this, whether you’re American or not.

First, recency bias is the thief of wisdom. The second is that stories are sticky. The third is that Americans (and Brits) really were happier in the 1950s…and it helps to know why.

Recency bias says, “Inflation is up. This is one of the worst times ever.”

And while nobody likes inflation, it isn’t historically high.

Below, I’ve listed average U.S. 10-year inflation levels, according to the US Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. From 2015-2024, inflation averaged just 2.89 percent. If we don’t include the 8 percent bump in 2022 (courtesy of COVID 19) the past 10 years saw one of history’s lowest inflation decades.

Average annual U.S. inflation per decade

Stories are sticky.

In the televised Leave it to Beaver world of the 1950s, single wage earners could support a family. But if frugality were an Olympic sport, the average 1950s family would be gold-medal winners.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that feeding a family in 1950 consumed nearly 30 percent of the median household income. By 2022, the typical household fed its family on just 13 percent of its income.

U.S. median family income, adjusted for inflation, was $29,000 in 1955. By 2021, it was $70,784.

The influx of women in the workforce added to the total. But despite that, hourly wages are almost 50 percent higher today, adjusted for inflation, than they were in 1955.

What about the American dream of owning a home?

U.S. home ownership in 1955 was lower than it was in 2024. And today, homes are much larger, despite families being smaller.

Compared to the 1950s, we’re a financially wasteful bunch.

Things and activities that were considered luxuries in the past are accepted norms today. We have far more restaurants, and people eating in those restaurants. We have far more coffee shops, and people drinking expensive coffee.

We have more resorts, and far more people fly. Tattoos, spas, flashy hair salons, Botox and fashionable clothes aren’t just domains of the rich.

We re-do bathrooms and kitchens to make them look pretty.

In 1955, Americans had 1.25 cars per household. By 2024, that number had increased to almost two. More than 21 percent of households own three cars.

And while far fewer Americans live on farms than they did in the 1950s, gas-guzzling pickup trucks are the most popular vehicles. They’re ubiquitous on city streets.

According to the University of Warwick’s Cage Policy Report, Understanding Happiness, just one in five British households had a washing machine in the 1950s. One in ten had a telephone. One in twenty had a refrigerator. Home temperatures in the winter tested people’s mettle.

Few had central heating. More than half didn’t own a television. Two-thirds of the working force were men. They worked an average of 48 hours a week. That’s 31.8 percent more hours than the typical Brit worked in 2024.

Socially and economically, the 1950s were not the good old days. Sexism and racism were far more rampant. And people didn’t live long. Today, American life expectancy is almost 80 years of age. In 1955, most 80-year-old Americans (and Brits) had long been pushing daisies. Life expectancy was about 66 years.

Was it easier to stay employed in the 1950s? Not according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Despite the influx of women in the workforce today, unemployment rates in the past 10 years (except COVID’s 2020) were lower than they were during the 1950s.

But stories do stick. Donald Trump claims U.S. crime is at an all-time high. But according to the FBI’s violent crime statistics, U.S. crime is far lower today than it was in the 1990s. Homicides per 100,000 are similar now, to what they were in the 1950s.

How about the US economy? No, it isn’t in the toilet. American GDP, per capita, hit an all-time high in 2024.

Now here’s the irony.

Based on decades-long life satisfaction surveys, people in most developed countries really were happier in the 1950s.

One reason points to the fact that income gaps are now Grand Canyon wide. That wasn’t the case 70 years ago. Morgan Housel points this out in his book, Same as Ever:

The smaller homes felt nice because everyone else lived in smaller homes too.

The lack of health care was acceptable because your neighbours were in the same circumstance.

Hand-me-downs were acceptable clothes because everyone else wore them.

Camping was an adequate vacation because that’s what everyone else did.

The typical middle-income earner sees ridiculous levels of wealth flaunted in front of them every day.

Today’s broader income gaps also affect our health. Michael Daly, an associate professor in behavioral science at the University of Stirling, found that people are less healthy when they live among those who earn higher incomes.

For example, you could earn a whopping £500,000 a year. But if your neighbours earn more, this could reduce your health. That comes from the stresses of comparison. US President Theodore Roosevelt once said, “Comparison is the thief of joy.”

So how could you avoid the comparison trap?

Understand that the airbrushed highlights we see from others on social media are not real at all. Understand that those who earn big incomes, live in big houses and drive fancy cars might have less wealth than you.

Even among those who truly are wealthier, high-income people are not likely happier than you. A Purdue University study found that income beyond a certain point doesn’t boost happiness.

On aggregate, it erodes it.

Wisdom comes from ignoring recency bias. It comes from understanding history. It comes from prioritising facts over stories.

Most importantly, wisdom comes from living your best life, being kind, being generous, and not comparing yourself to others.