I mean, things are bad but they are not utterly horrible, in any objective sense. This is a similar error that lay behind parts of Brexit: the idea that there is not another level to which we can descend. There are many other levels.

Yeah but we live in a supposedly advanced country. We work hard & pay a lot of taxes, yet my I'm terrified of needing medical treatment. I know couples who both work full time yet can't afford to rent a flat. For a lot of people things are, in fact, objectively horrible.