'If the economy is doing so well, why does it feel like a disaster?'
since 1984; wage growth for the bottom of the economic pyramid has been notable for the first time in a generation. In fact, wage growth for the bottom of the economic pyramid has actually been faster than the one thing that dampens the picture: inflation.
In addition, unlike with the stagflation of the 1970s and the subsequent double-digit inflation of the early 1980s, today’s inflation is directly a product of more people with more money consuming more goods and services all at once after a pandemic year of selective consumption. That means that inflation now is a by-product of both government spending that cushioned the economic pain of the pandemic and of everyone from the working-poor to the very rich having more income.
In fact, the past twenty years has been a litany of challenges, each of which dented American confidence and which in aggregate have altered what was once a preternaturally upbeat and optimistic country into a perpetually pessimistic one.
It’s not all about how we feel: even while our numbers look good, they mask shifts and changes that can be deeply unsettling and often disruptive. The untenable increase in healthcare costs.