Please Don’t Call Inflation Anxiety Delusional
The economy is doing well, but people say they’re worried. Think twice before assuming they don’t know what they’re talking about.
Their financial insecurity is not in their imagination.
Photographer: Kayana Szymczak/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Many commentators are struck by the disconnect between the US economy’s impressive performance of late and the dismal popular view of the very same economy. Explanations usually blame mistakes or misperceptions – caused by post-Covid stress, or partisan politics, or social-media paranoia, or ignorance in failing to notice for instance that earnings have been rising faster than prices.
There’s something to all of that, no doubt. Yet for millions of Americans, complaints about worsening economic conditions are grounded not in misperception but in hard reality – and the refusal to acknowledge this only adds insult to injury.