Economists have described the past four years as the “vibecession,” a disconnect between Americans’ feelings about the economy and the data.
It was the consensus view on Wall Street that the economy would slide into a recession, but economic conditions have defied expectations. Gross domestic product (GDP) has expanded at a solid pace, the labor market has added millions of new jobs, and the inflation growth rate has eased from its June 2022 peak.
If this is the current state of the world’s largest economy, why have U.S. households been down?
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell was asked about this at the December post-policy meeting press conference, and he attributed this pessimistic view to the “tremendous pain” of high prices….