NYT: Covid Malaise: Why do Americans say the economy is in rough shape? Because it is.

[NQAS]

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/10/briefing/us-economy-covid-malaise.html

Read this and tell me that there is no bias against Joe Biden.

snip

Offices remain eerily empty. Airlines have canceled thousands of flights. Subways and buses are running less often. Schools sometimes call off entire days of class. Consumers waste time waiting in store lines. Annual inflation has reached its highest level in three decades.

Does this sound like a healthy economy to you?

In recent weeks, economists and pundits have been asking why Americans feel grouchy about the economy when many indicators — like G.D.P. growth, stock prices and the unemployment rate — look strong.

But I think the answer to this supposed paradox is that it’s not really a paradox: Americans think the economy is in rough shape because the economy is in rough shape.

snip

Add to that the article on the front page about inflation at its highest rate in 40 years.

And what about the millions of jobs created? Apparently meaningless.

And what about communities complaining that they can't find plumbers or carpenters or builders because they're all scheduled out for months? Apparently meaningless.

And the statistics on happiness, sadness, etc. All I can say is that if a freshman political science student submitted the comments on the polls as Leonhardt has done, they'd be advised to take up another course of study.

Look, I'm not suggesting that NYT play the role of Fox for Dems, but in the polarized world we're in this kind of shit is fodder for the RW.

As for anxiety, sure, there's anxiety. Mainly because Covid isn't going away, and it's largely the fault of Republicans. So, yeah, maybe Dems aren't happy, but it's not necessarily because the economy is in freefall. Add in oil and gas companies profiteering, keeping prices high even as supply increases.

And on and on and on.

[Autumn]

1. I shake my head everytime I hear some idiot say the economey is doing great. It's not.

The economey is great for Wall Street and other investors. For the average American and the poor it blows.

[jimfields33]

3. The worst is grocery store prices

That is what Americans see and believes that the economy sucks. That’s it.

[Autumn]

4. That, rents, gas prices and the lack of goods on store shelves.

[jimfields33]

5. Absolutely those as well.

[CrispyQ]

2. I think the MSM has decided that fascism won't hurt their business too much,

because apparently ratings are more important than democracy. A horse race campaign is more important than calling out clearly unqualified candidates. Bothsiderism is acceptable if it keeps the conflict going. They've been derelict for many years. Decades, actually.

The media is only as liberal as the conservative corporations that own it. ~bumper sticker

[DetroitLegalBeagle]

6. The average person judges the economy based on their own eyes

They see businesses short staffed, less things on shelves due to supply line issues, building trades scheduled out months because they can't get materials, rising prices for necessities, rising energy costs, etc.

They don't care about numbers in jobs report they will never actually bother reading. Is it fair to the President? No, but it's what he's going to have to deal with before November or else we all can guess what's gonna happen.

[Johonny]

10. Shelves near me are starting to pile up

The Christmas stuff came late, but it's now everywhere. I imagine post-Christmas sales will be great this year as many people stocked up early and this late arriving stuff won't sell in time.

[madville]

12. Correct, jobs "created" and unemployment claims are meaningless stats to individuals

People judge the economy mostly by things with direct personal effects, like grocery prices, gas prices, rent prices, etc.

[ForgedCrank]

7. I have no doubt that media is biased

against President Biden, I see it all day, every day.
But, the current state of the indicators is not good, not good at all.
Yes, there are a lot of jobs out there and all at this moment, but we are seeing the beginning signs of an almost imminent implosion. For 15 years or longer, forcing interest rates artificially low along with a lot of other factors (covid, etc), it's all starting to come to a head. Eventually, the forces must be fed, and the longer it is delayed, the harder it is to get through. I think we are on that doorstep now. The broken supply chain is compounding the issue and we are running full steam toward a sharp turn in the tracks.
I keep hoping for a miracle, but I'm preparing for a disaster.

[andym]

8. Well, if people think the economy is bad, it hurts Joe Biden and Democrats

because the party in power is considered the steward of the economy. So lets hope it gets better soon. The good news is that the GDP is still healthy (economic growth) and unemployment levels are relatively low. The bad news is that inflation is high at levels we haven't seen for decades. Inflation is due to supply issues and high oil prices.

[rockfordfile]

15. supply issues and oil prices are republicans fault.

[Johonny]

9. This feels like Carter all over again

Where the economy wasn't nearly as bad as people made it out to be, and the causes were beyond Carter's control. In the end, the economic pressures ebbed away under Reagan without any real cause and effect due to Reagan's policies I in many ways he made it initially worse). Although society would be vastly better off had Carter had a second term.

[andym]

11. Paul Volcker at the Fed raised interest rates, limited money supply

The short-term effect was to raise interest rates sky high, and cause a recession. The Volcker shock that created problematic economic conditions started under Carter and lasted until Reagan's 3rd year.

Carter knew the dangers to his reelection and popularity of appointing Volcker but appointed him anyways. The Volcker shock broke the back of runaway inflation. Reagan reappointed Volcker because his staff knew that Volcker had created the economic miracle.. If Carter had been reelected he would have been the beneficiary.

[madville]

13. Powell isn't going to do that anytime soon

Almost feels like we're on a schedule, inflation causes us to lose Congress in the midterm, then rising interest rates and limiting money supply hurt the housing and stock markets just before 2024. It's like it's following a familiar script.

[BannonsLiver]

14. The whining up top is very on brand.

Someone can’t get pimento loaf from Walmart one time or it’s 5 cents more than the last time and it’s a fucking catastrophe.

[Blue_Adept]

17. This

Drives me batty every time it happens.

Or, suddenly, you hear that they're paying double of what they were for gas all of a sudden. Which is impossible unless gas prices actually doubled.

Critical thinking is key but people don't do it. I have a simple 10 gallon tank in my car. I fill it up once a week because of how my driving routine is. Gas went up 20 cents where I am over the last couple of months and that means $2 more a week or $8 more a month.

Makes me glad I didn't spend a chunk of the 2010s buying massive gas guzzlers when gas was cheaper, though not cheaper by that much.

[BannonsLiver]

19. Yes. Americans have it easy with fuel costs and most staples

Relative to other places. And you were smart to skip the guzzler. Same here.

[MichMan]

21. Many other countries tax fuel $3-4 more a gallon than the US

[NQAS]

20. That's my thought as well

There's only two of us humans at home (plus 9 animals, but that's another story). I notice some of the price increases, but they don't affect us all that much. Milk prices have been on a bit of a rollercoaster, but increased prices there add only a few dollars a week to the grocery bill. Or I just buy something else, or do without, whatever it might be. Some fruit prices are up, some not. What a surprise. The staples are pretty much stable, or stable-ish enough not to matter. Poultry and meat are up a bit, but not enough to make a dent. And there are lower cost store brand options. I buy fresh fish, and those prices vary, but, again, if the price is too high at the moment I skip it. For some reason, scallops have gone up to an obscene $30/pound. I haven't bought scallops for a while.

It has always been thus.

Empty shelves? Sure, that's been the case throughout Covid, and it strikes me as odd that it's persisting in some grocery chains. But since some other chains do not have shortages, the empty shelves strike me as a store decision not an industry wide 'BIG PROBLEM." I have noticed that there are fewer choices in some areas, but, again, this shouldn't be a problem. These are just local observations, so maybe it's a larger problem than I think. But having a few less choices for bread and dishwasher detergent is not a civilization-ending development.

I get it. Things are not ideal. As usual, a Democratic administration has to undo the damage by a Republican administration. This has been apparent for the past 50 years, and Biden has a much tougher job given that TFG attempted a coup. Someone mentioned rents. Rents have been high all over for the past ten years, at least in northern New England. That's not a Biden thing or a Democratic thing. House prices skyrocketing are a problem, created largely, I think, by private equity and individual high-dollar investors buying homes for higher than the asking price in cash. That's a problem. And it's a new one that I don't think was an issue in the past. And this is seriously exacerbating the economic divide. This should be a bipartisan concern, but there is no such thing as bipartisan anymore, so how this is going to be dealt with is a mystery.

As for supply chain issues in manufacturing - cpap machines (NYT article yesterday), cars, appliances, etc. - these are not inherent to the US or caused by the US (except to the extent that American industry decided decades ago to outsource and offshore chips and other feeds in the mfg supply chain). These are global issues and have to be dealt with by whatever administration is in office. It's not a right-left issue.

And I'm still pissed off about the happiness/sadness/anxiety poll results addressed in the op-ed piece. I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that since those on the right and left see the world differently, the issues of anxiety, happiness, sadness, etc. are almost irrelevant.

Nothing more than my 2 cents.

[Ron Green]

16. The Grand Ah-whoom has been coming for decades.

I’m mildly surprised that Joe Biden agreed to be left holding the bag.

“Build Back Better” is an interesting righteous stab at the inevitability of it.

[FakeNoose]

18. They want to see a lot of automatons punching a clock and working for minimum wage

When they see that, they'll finally know the economy has recovered.

Fun fact:
when we're all working for minimum wage, it means that only the one-per-centers are getting rich and nobody else.