Constant media reports of an economy with seemingly strong indicators and positive signs are running into public perceptions that it's anything but roaring, and some pundits can't contain their annoyance.
Outlets like CBS, The Atlantic, and NPR, as well as prominent media figures like former CNN reporter John Harwood and Democratic strategist James Carville, have argued the economy is on the up and even that people are "stubbornly" clinging to their negative perception of it.
The Atlantic published a column last week titled, "Why Americans Hate a Good Economy" in an attempt to make sense of why "most Americans believe their financial situation has gotten worse since Joe Biden became president."
It began with a positive assessment of the state of the economy, stating, "Last month the unemployment rate was down to 3.9 percent… The Consumer Price Index was unchanged. A new paper shows that wage inequality has fallen over the past three years, driven by workers leaving their old jobs for better-paying ones. The U.S. has been adding jobs at a record clip. And wages – adjusted for inflation – may have finally surpassed pre-pandemic levels."
The column then provided several reasons for why Americans don’t get it, first among them, that economic conditions have "changed really fast" and people haven’t been able to realize the upswing. Another reason it gave was that "the government may have raised expectations for what a ‘good economy’ is supposed to feel like" among the public with all the money printed during the pandemic.
Another was that the public seems "to be more sensitive to inflation than to unemployment." The Atlantic piece also mentioned how the media’s "negativity bias" in reporting on the economy is influencing the public, and finally, it mentioned that "Democrats are bad cheerleaders" for their party’s successes in this field.
During a radio segment from late October, NPR wondered, "The U.S. economy is humming, so why are Americans so grumpy about it?"
After explaining that the "economy is doing remarkably well," as evidenced by high growth in recent quarters, the hosts mentioned Americans’ "economic confidence" was "deep in the red."
"It's been negative almost every month since the pandemic began. And while it's not as bad as it was last summer when gasoline prices hit an all-time high, topping $5 a gallon, it's still pretty grim," they said.
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A CBS News article from early November encouraged Americans to embrace the signs of economic good fortune despite their resistance.
Titled, "Inflation is slowing — really. Here's why Americans aren't feeling it," it claimed, "Many Americans remain dour on the state of the economy, with the price of necessities like food and rent a lingering source of pain. Although it may seem like small consolation for cash-strapped consumers, economists have some good news. Really."
But the article suggested that its slow decline is not so apparent to consumers. "To be sure, consumers don't experience the economy as annualized rates of change in prices. A gallon of gas or milk either costs more than it did a year ago or less."
Harwood, a former CNN reporter who is one of Biden's most rabid media supporters, insisted on X earlier this month that the economy is good and scolded journalists to communicate that more effectively.
He posted, "Trump could win despite his flagrant criminality and deranged mental state. Journalists need to better convey 2 realities: – the US economy is doing well, not poorly – Biden at 80 is handling the job effectively right now."
In a recent interview with Politico, Carville lectured voters who believe the economy is bad, saying their "attitudes about the economy are pretty stubbornly in the wrong place."
He added, "people have just rendered a judgment and are not revisiting the judgment."
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CBS News also recently aggregated an Associated Press report about the economy doing "even better than the government thought." It provided an optimistic outlook, noting that "easing inflation and resilient hiring" show that that economy can make a "soft landing."
However, the same outlet published a report that same week mentioning Americans’ economic woes.
It reported, "The typical American household must spend an additional $11,434 annually just to maintain the same standard of living they enjoyed in January of 2021, right before inflation soared to 40-year highs, according to a recent analysis of government data."
That report seemed to give some validation to Americans’ current heartburn over the economy. Despite these publications’ insistence that things are getting better, most voters, including Democrats, have not been pleased.
A recent poll from the New York Times and Siena College found 62% of Democratic voters across six battleground states rated the economy as only "fair" or "poor."
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon certainly provided a harsher assessment of the U.S. economy than mainstream outlets during The New York Times DealBook Summit, saying it was on a "sugar high."
"If you look at the U.S., yes, you know, almost all-time low unemployment, but inflation is hurting people. The bottom third, I kind of think they have a right to be p---ed off. I would probably be a little p---ed off if I were them," he said.
Fox News' David Rutz and Joseph Wulfsohn contributed to this report.
