Claim: As of the beginning of 2024, the US Economy is doing well.

Published Jan 15, 2024

"The world’s five richest men have more than doubled their fortunes from $405 billion (£321 billion) to $869 billion (£688 billion) since 2020, while the wealth of the poorest 60 per cent - almost five billion people - has fallen, a new Oxfam report on inequality and global corporate power has found."

Change in Consumer Price Index between February 2020 and October 2023, by expenditure category

Energy +33.4%
Transportation +28.1%
Food and beverages +23.4%
Housing +19.8%
Other goods and services +18.8%
Recreation +12.3%
Medical Care +7.2%
Apparel +6.4%
Education and communication +4.1%

This could explain why, even though inflation (the rate of price increase) is lower than it was, people still feel like prices are high. Because, compared to 2020, they are, and they increased by a large amount within a short period of time. People aren't used to paying the new prices.

Published Jan 17, 2022

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the wealth of billionaires increased dramatically, with a new billionaire being created every 26 hours and the world's ten richest men doubling their fortunes from $700 billion to $1.5 trillion. This increase, amounting to $5 trillion since the pandemic's onset, marks the largest surge in billionaire wealth on record. In stark contrast, 99% of humanity saw a decline in income, with inequality contributing to the death of one person every 4 seconds and over 160 million people newly pushed into poverty.

This article suggests that as of early 2024, the U.S. economy is performing well in certain key aspects, such as low unemployment and a GDP that continues to grow. However, despite these strong economic indicators and a significant reduction in inflation to 3%, the public's perception of the economy remains largely negative.

This paradox mirrors the post-World War II era, where despite being on the cusp of the greatest economic boom in American history, public dissatisfaction persisted, influenced heavily by inflation, a housing crisis, labor unrest, production shortages, and other economic challenges of the time. The article suggests that we are emerging from such a time once again, that the metrics are looking good, we may be on the verge of another prosperous boom, and public sentiment will hopefully catch up to that reality soon.

Here's an open source link to the article: https://web.archive.org/web/20240105012204/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/04/upshot/2024-election-biden-truman-economy.html

Comparing the last 20 years (2003-2023), unemployment was lowest in 2019 and 2023.