by Oren Cass (@oren_cass) Since its publication on February 20 by the Manhattan Institute, “The Cost-of-Thriving Index” has received widespread attention. Christopher Ingraham, data reporter for the Washington Post, wrote that he had “never seen the discrepancy between what economic statistics say and how American families feel explained so clearly.” …

Among the latest fashions in bourgeois self-criticism is the lament that Americans start conversations with “so, what do you do?” In some tellings, the question’s offense lies in its implication that what you do defines who you are. In others, it represents a thinly veiled attempt to determine how much…