People are extremely upset with Joseph R. Biden because lots of things seem especially bleak at the moment. One of the key ones being that things are expensive. Grocery prices are so much higher than they used to be, and other items have followed suit. However most of our inflation metrics have declined and are currently stable. In fact, MANY economic metrics look pretty overwhelmingly positive.
I think a big part of the sentiment about prices right now is *where* the increases are coming from. The start of the pandemic had all kinds of disruptions in the food system and supply chain, so we sort of understood prices and inflation going up. Then, the narrative was that wage increases were driving prices. What's the narrative now? The only thing left is corporate profits, really
In the aggregate, wages are up, and inflation is down. Cool and good. I am glad the macro indicators look better. We all like seeing that.
In my personal life, my wages have been stagnant for ten years and have lost ground even relative to 2019 inflation, never mind now. I know others have made significant gains, but wage gains are not evenly distributed across the economy. I also don't see how you look at those grocery charts and propose that people's calibration point is pre-coronavirus. The spike from 2021 to now is a lot sharper and more persistent.
The wonks can keep saying, "no, it's the children who are wrong," and point at macro indicators, but a pound of ground beef is still two bucks more expensive where I am than it was in 2021. I have to buy groceries weekly, so those prices are salient to me. "You can still afford groceries," you may say, but every dollar I'm spending there is not going into other parts of the economy.
I think a big part of the sentiment about prices right now is *where* the increases are coming from. The start of the pandemic had all kinds of disruptions in the food system and supply chain, so we sort of understood prices and inflation going up. Then, the narrative was that wage increases were driving prices. What's the narrative now? The only thing left is corporate profits, really
In the aggregate, wages are up, and inflation is down. Cool and good. I am glad the macro indicators look better. We all like seeing that.
In my personal life, my wages have been stagnant for ten years and have lost ground even relative to 2019 inflation, never mind now. I know others have made significant gains, but wage gains are not evenly distributed across the economy. I also don't see how you look at those grocery charts and propose that people's calibration point is pre-coronavirus. The spike from 2021 to now is a lot sharper and more persistent.
The wonks can keep saying, "no, it's the children who are wrong," and point at macro indicators, but a pound of ground beef is still two bucks more expensive where I am than it was in 2021. I have to buy groceries weekly, so those prices are salient to me. "You can still afford groceries," you may say, but every dollar I'm spending there is not going into other parts of the economy.