Why Do Americans Think the Economy Is Bad?

According to virtually every metric, the US economy is doing historically well. Yet, many Americans are convinced that it's the pits... Why?

Two Cents is hosted by Philip Olson, CFP® and Julia Lorenz-Olson, AFC®
Directors: Katie Graham & Andrew Matthews
Written by: Andrew Matthews
Executive Producer: Amanda Fox
Produced by: Katie Graham
Edited & Animated by: Dano Johnson
Fact checker: Yvonne McGreevy
Executive in Charge for PBS: Maribel Lopez
Director of Programming for PBS: Gabrielle Ewing
Assistant Director of Programming for PBS: John Campbell

Images by: Shutterstock
Music by: APM
Two Cents is a production of Spotzen for PBS Digital Studios

sources:

[meemee]

I get what you’re trying to say with this and most of it I do agree with..but housing is abysmal. Renting or the road to ownership is absolutely out of reach.

[dr_waffle_house]

To me, it seems like a lot of companies jacked up prices to make up for their losses during COVID and realized that people were still buying their product so they kept the prices high.

[xbrrpmo]

Its like that naked gun scene where they say "nothing to see here move along" while everything literally blows up behind them

[ChristopherFerguson]

It's great for home owners and stock holders. But home ownership is the problem... If you have it, you're okay, if you don't and you want it, it's out of control.

Food prices skyrocketing from inflation was the straw that broke the camel's back on economy sentiment for the middle and lower class.

The sting is absolutely driving the economy narrative. But that sting has been felt for 50 years due to wage stagnation... And the second we got paid more, companies increase prices due to greed? Not really inflation? Yeah, people are rightfully pissed.

[Andres_]

The economy's perception is indeed interesting. Perhaps it's tied to concerns about job security and income levels.

[TonneliGruetter]

my family became food insecure after the pandemic, lost jobs, and has struggled... but I'm happy to hear its just us

[Josh-]

No word on record credit card debt that skyrocketed these last 2 years. Over a trillion dollars. A lot of the spending is associated with that.

[Dogbehu]

The word "vibecession" is the exact moment where I stopped being young

[DanJuega]

Something that you “forgot” to add is that wages haven’t kept up with inflation for decades. So an increase in the last years is not that amazing. And only bringing up the short term is disingenuous.

[potapotapotapotapotapota]

the main and only reason everyone thinks the economy sucks is because of housing, everything else you mentioned is a mute point when it would take someone 30 years to pay off the average mortgage on twice the average salary

[KatrinaJ]

I wish they had spent a little more time on housing, instead of being like “yes housing is truly bad, but just invest in stocks instead.” What? We need a place to live. How are rent prices doing? From where I’m standing they’re pretty bad, but I don’t know what the overall contextual statistics are.

[robertmaxa]

Consumer spending looks "robust", because it's all on credit, not actual cash. Credit card debt, is at an all time high. Numbers get massaged. For example, when the numbers say employment has gone up, what they're not saying, is the quality of employment. It's usually part time, with low pay.

[CutiePi]

Thanks for mentioning housing, this is the main reason the demographic of 18-35 is down about the economy. No matter how well you do, it feels like housing is out of reach.

[Saylor]

I work in Public Social Services in Los Angeles specifically with the welfare programs.
I guess I can just start telling all my clients when they apply for CalFresh that's it's actually not bad 🤦

[calebr]

Have you ever thought that maybe GDP isn't a measure of how well people are doing but just a measure of gross domestic product?

[dngendron]

It’s really funny when someone tries to convince you your own eyes and experiences are false.

[greekmom]

The only American who won't acknowledge this Administration's failed economic policies is Joe Biden. "Shrink-flation' is the least of our worries compared to rising rents and stagnant wages, but it is an undeniable indicator of how bad our inflation has gotten. I have $100k that i like to invest in a non-retirement account, any advice on that?

[MurderMostFowl]

Americans think the economy is doing poorly because of a misunderstanding of terminology. We equate the economy with personal prosperity and buying power. Economic strength is about the power of the government and of the commercial sector. Those two things don’t always line up.
The strong economy has actually caused a considerable a number of problems for Americans, who, even if they got a raise in the last two years, saw it completely negated and worse because of inflation. The arbitrary pile-on by other companies raising prices that didn’t need to, but realized that they could increase their profit margins, punishes the consumer and make people feel negatively about “the economy”.
You cannot tell the average Joe how great of a success the economy is and how well the company they work for is doing when they aren’t compensated any extra, and when they go to dinner, they are seeing their bill go up by 20%.

[rednecktek]

Why do people think the economy sucks? Let's see...

My wage increases over the last 5 years were 2.5%, 1.5%, 0.5%, 0%, 0%
My hamburger was $1.99/lb, now is $9.99/lb
In 2018 I could buy a 3 bedroom house for $300, 000, now that house was $725, 000
5 years ago current year pickup was specced at $48, 000, that same truck is now $68, 000
4 years ago a sheet of 1/2" plywood was $13, now is $64

Ok, so that couch that went from $6000 to $9000 is down to $8000, but that's something a person buys once a decade or so. I need food today.

[oxipusio]

We are not being influenced by social media, but by the cost of essentials (rent, utilities, food) by the receipts.

I love all your videos, except this one