I remember growing up and watching a foreign movie from the US and finding it strange that families would do grocery shopping on a weekly basis. That felt like such a waste of gas. It was later that I realized that our own culture of monthly shopping arose after the periods of hyperinflation, especially due to the Volcker Shock in the 80s. There's a lot of small ways in which long term economic prospects shape our culture at large. And unlike what some romantic writers seem to think, American optimism is not inherent to people in the US. It's something that came into being out of historical circumstances.

I don't think american decline or even it's relative decline is written on stone. But if the post 80s libertarian policies aren't reversed, I can see a traumatic situation akin to that of Britain's stagnation. A total cultural shock. As a foreigner that's what I'm seeing. People surprised at shrinkflation, inflation and even older boomers shocked that the baseline welfare state they voted out of existence does not, indeed, exist any more. This isn't a criticism mind you. I think we here at the periphery are so used to rational fears, as you put it, that we normalize these things.