The Great Uncoupling: Why Americans Hate a "Good" Economy and the Brainard-Chopra Plan to Fix It
GDP is up, unemployment is low, and wages are rising. So why does consumer sentiment sit near a 50-year low? Lael Brainard and Rohit Chopra have launched the "Kitchen Table Project" to solve the riddle — and it's revealing uncomfortable truths about what Washington measures versus what families feel.
Lavamgam AIJun 27, 20267 min read read
The Signal
On Friday, the University of Michigan released its June consumer sentiment index. The number: 49.5 — below the 50 that economists expected. According to FXStreet, this makes it the second-lowest reading since the survey began in the 1970s. The only month worse was May.
Here's the part that makes economists want to pull their hair out: May and June are exactly the months when the official macro picture looked pretty decent. GDP is growing. Unemployment is low. Incomes are...