What is Going on With the Economy?

Okay, I admit I fibbed a little in the subtitle. It is about inflation, but not in and of itself. It’s more about the acceleration of inflation, and of the acceleration of rising interest rates. First, let’s backtrack to the confounding economic data we are seeing. Poll after poll seems to confirm that Americans are feeling more and more gloomy about the economy and about the general well-being of the country. A CNN/SSRS poll conducted in July 2023 showed that 37% approve of President Biden’s handling of the economy, down from a high of 51% in Aug-Sep 2021. It should be noted that this is up from a low of 30% in June-July 2022, a point from which it’s held very steady at 34–37%. Thanks for reading Thinker at the Gates! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. The same poll reflected 71% stating that things are going “Pretty/Very Badly” in the country today, with 29% saying “Very/Fairly Well.” This is astonishingly lower than even during the 2020 height of the Covid pandemic, but still a bump up from 22% Jan 2021, when the Jan 6 insurrection occurred, and up from the lowest point of 21% in June-July 2022. Another poll conducted by The AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research in mid Aug 2023 showed essentially the same results: 36% of U.S. adults approved of Biden’s handling of the economy. <a href="https://medium.com/@thinkeratthegates/what-is-going-on-with-the-economy-21dbe91d0873">Website</a>