There's a popular narrative going around—globalization tanked the US economy. Smaller paychecks, shrinking influence, less manufacturing dominance. Everyone seems to agree on it.

But here's the thing: when you actually look at what happened instead of just going with the story, the picture gets a lot more complicated.

Let's check the actual data. US average income growth over the past few decades tells one story. America's slice of global GDP tells another. And when you look at manufacturing output on the world stage? That's where things get really interesting.

You can argue about whether those numbers are good or bad news—that's fair game. But you can't argue with the data itself. The numbers don't support the simple 'globalization destroyed America' take nearly as cleanly as people think.

Worth digging into the specifics to see what's really changed and what hasn't.