I also was extremely confused every time they spread government deficit rhetoric, saying "I don't know how we're gonna pay off this debt hero deep." I would yell at the TV, "The same thing you already do, print more money!!"

I didn't know that that was the source of price inflation, but I knew as a kid that, um, duh, the government controls the money supply. They're not limited by accounting. The fact that most 50 year olds didn't understand this was so telling to me the incredible willful ignorance of most of my fellow humans in stark contrast to myself even as an angsty adolescent. Sheeple are incredibly good at deluding themselves.