Allison Schrager, Columnist

How Can an Economy This Good Feel This Bad?

The US is in the midst of an economic boom, but it is more vulnerable to shocks than it was a few quarters ago.

September 2, 2025 at 9:30 AM UTC

Allison Schrager is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering economics. A senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, she is author of “An Economist Walks Into a Brothel: And Other Unexpected Places to Understand Risk.”

Just not feeling this economy.
Photographer: Timothy A. Clary/AFP

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On paper, these are good times for the US economy. The latest GDP numbers show growth was at 3.3% in the second quarter. Business investment is up. The unemployment rate remains low, and the inflation rate is reasonable.

Still, underneath it all lies a nagging question: If the economy is so good, why does it feel so bad?