Why are Americans so gloomy about their great economy? ( www.economist.com )

Inflation, partisanship and the pandemic have made them glummer than the numbers suggest they should feel

I think the author just looked up statistics to reach a conclusion convenient to them.

Just ask the actual people. (Why didn't they do interviews?) There are so many details lost in their cherrypicked numbers. Prices, wages, housings, they are very bad according to what I read online, contrary to what the author argues citing average growths. Maybe they have no grasp of reality anymore?

crusa187 ,

Yo, is The Economist purely rage bait articles?!

Rentlar ,

Doing better than the rest of the world only says so much...

When the lion's share of increase in wealth went to the richest 1%....

BirdyBoogleBop ,

"Why are Americans so gloomy about their great rich people yacht money?"

Kwakigra , (edited )
@Kwakigra@beehaw.org avatar

Because the literal majority of Americans live paycheck-to-paycheck. Trickle down doesn't work.

AndrasKrigare ,

Weekly reminder that "trickle down economics" was always meant as a criticism. Coined by Will Rogers

This election was lost four and six years ago, not this year. They [Republicans] didn't start thinking of the old common fellow till just as they started out on the election tour. The money was all appropriated for the top in the hopes that it would trickle down to the needy. Mr. Hoover was an engineer. He knew that water trickles down. Put it uphill and let it go and it will reach the driest little spot. But he didn't know that money trickled up. Give it to the people at the bottom and the people at the top will have it before night, anyhow. But it will at least have passed through the poor fellow's hands. They saved the big banks, but the little ones went up the flue.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trickle-down_economics#:~:text=Trickle%2Ddown%20economics%20is%20a,critics%20of%20supply%2Dside%20economics.

Kwakigra ,
@Kwakigra@beehaw.org avatar

Far from the only joke in American politics. Will Rogers is as relevant now as always.

darkphotonstudio ,

Did The Economist ever have a grasp on reality?

avidamoeba ,
@avidamoeba@lemmy.ca avatar

Maybe they have no grasp of reality anymore?

Some economists not having a grasp of reality? 🤯

taanegl ,
@taanegl@beehaw.org avatar

I wish whoever said that gets smacked into reality, because that is ridiculously tone-deaf.

furrowsofar , (edited )

I am not sure I agree with their interpretation of the numbers. Inflation is not back to 2% and is unlikely to return there. Interest rates are high on loans. Stock market is not that up... just more recovering and the next 10 year return estimates are more like 6% not like the 10 or 12% people saw in the prior decade. Gas I do not use so I do not care. Geopolitics is concerning. Climate change is concerning. Internal politics is concerning. Both news and politics truth does not seem to matter... sensationalism seems more important then constructivism.

Hard to find positives. Maybe macro employment numbers are good. Not sure about working conditions or if incomes have matched inflation. Probably not universally. We may have avoided a recession I guess that may be positive. Money Market, CD, and Bond interest rates are up which is nice for some.

Arkham ,

Gas I do not use so I do not care.

I don't own a car and don't use gas either. But my food, clothes, toiletries, mail, and lots of other things I need all probably required gas in order to get to me. If you live in a city, especially a US city, chances are high that you rely on gasoline a great deal just to get food, even if it's only indirectly.

furrowsofar ,

Sure I agree that inflation is linked to the cost of carbon fuels. We need to eliminate 80% of that but it will be painful and difficult.

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