DATA DISSONANCE

While inflation is barely 2.5% Y-o-Y, unemployment is just 4.1%, and incomes are rising, voters are sour on the economy. Here, I think, is why. Median income in 2023 rose to $80,610, but it’s still below the 2019 $81,210 inflation-adjusted peak. And, sure, overall inflation is low, but Y-o-Y food and energy (things we buy all the time) inflation peaked at 40% in 2022, its worst showing since 1979!