The younger, the more highly educated in science/maths & the higher the IQ, the higher the levels of critical thinking
No surprise the older & the more conservative the person, the more likely the belief in magical thinking
The left is not immune to magical thinking. Critical thinking has also not been taught in schools for more than 40 years. My sister is a middle boomer and I'm an early Xer and I saw a big difference in how much critical thinking was taught between when she went through school and when I did. Most college programs encourage it, but the ultra political correctness on college campuses these days points to critical thinking on decline.
I read that article in detail. It says
nothing at all about the number of bankruptcies. It talks only about the proportion of all bankruptcies remaining roughly constant.
Here's another article that notes that the proportion stayed roughly constant. However it also says:
(my bolding.) The article is worth a read; it's much more complicated than just claiming that Obamacare did or didn't reduce the number or proportion of bankruptcies, although in fact the raw number
did decrease.
My SO has done a lot of bankruptcies as an attorney and they wax and wane with the economy. In 2009 the bankruptcy courts were so swamped that they were having to add extra days to the calendar and they were still falling behind. During the Obama era to now the economy was steadily improving so bankruptcies declined.
The most salient question is what is the level of medical debt in this country and that is difficult to assess.
On another topic, my SO and I were talking about a Psychological concept that plays into any kind of change. She runs court ordered groups for domestic violence perpetrators and she does it with her clients, but it also works on mass populations. That's the concept of shaping. Because the middle of the bell curve is resistant to change, they need to be introduced to a topic, then let it marinate for a while and often they will go with it if it seems to be the new meme.
Shaping changed public opinion on same sex marriage and recreational marijuana. A couple of years ago neroden described here in this thread how the right shaped the evangelicals from relatively neutral on Roe v Wade into rabidly anti-abortion. After the civil rights movement we were making some progress on shaping this country generally away from racism, but the anti-Obama movement on the right completely undid all the work done and started shaping the herd back the other way.
Shaping is neutral, it can be applied for good or bad purposes, but it's very effectively in getting both individuals to change and getting public buy in for a new idea. The herd is not ready for Bernie's ideas yet, but a lot of early adopters are on board. It will take shaping to sell them to the rest. That takes time and a confrontational approach doesn't work. Confrontation raises shields and increases resistance to change. Trickle out ideas, examples, lessons and let the seeds take root. Then the change becomes inevitable.
