This article is adapted from a lecture presented at the Mises Student Circle “Why the Economy Is Failing Generation Z” on November 1, 2025, in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

I teach at Ferris State University and most of my students are members of Generation Z. When I ask them what they are stressed about, they often mention passing my course, of course—but beyond that, it seems that they are stressed about dismal economic prospects regarding jobs and housing. In many cases, this concern is understandable. They face serious challenges.

Britain and the United States are often described in the same breath: advanced economies that have moved beyond industry into services, finance, and knowledge work. On paper, the similarity looks strong. Services dominate employment and output in both countries, manufacturing has receded, and global cities anchor national growth. Yet the resemblance is superficial. The kinds of services each country produces, and the economic roles those services play, are profoundly different.

This article is adapted from a lecture presented at the Mises Student Circle “Why the Economy Is Failing Generation Z” on November 1, 2025, in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

We live in a time of great gaslighting on the state of the economy in the United States. President Donald Trump tells us that we are living in a “golden age” of economic prosperity. Trump has also said that if he were to give himself a grade on his economic policy, he’d give himself an “A-plus-plus-plus-plus-plus-plus.”

[The Idea of a Social Science and its Relation to Philosophy by Peter Winch (Routledge, 2008 [1958]; xxix  +136pp.)]

The Supreme Court has struck down the Trump tariffs that he has been setting in the past year, claiming emergency powers. The majority found that the Constitution “very clearly” gives Congress the power to impose taxes, which include tariffs.

“The economy is actually booming.”—Richard Bernstein, guest on CNBC, January 15, 2026

“The US economy just delivered a shock. Third-quarter gross domestic product grew at a 4.3% annualized pace, far exceeding expectations and marking the biggest expansion in two years.”—Nicole Goodkind, “The Economy Is Heating Up. Why the Experts Keep Getting It Wrong,” Barron’s, December 24, 2025

When moving away from superficial, cartoonish, and caricatured history, the importance of context and distinctions becomes obvious. Part of the task of responsible history is to show how things are often more complicated than first assumed. The Civil War is an important historical event in which this is evident. Zooming in on just one aspect of the US before the Civil War, it is key to understand the role of the federal legal protections of slavery.