I would challenge your assumption that it is the inflation making them angry beyond reason, and say instead it’s fox news, TikTok, Facebook, or whatever telling them stupid shit about inflation
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Yes, that’s a major factor of course. When I say people are mad about inflation, that includes misinformation about inflation, just as when people were vaccine hesitant that included all their consumption about vaccine misinformation. And just like with vaccine misinformation, quality information from reliable sources doesn’t fix the problem.
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They don’t viscerally feel the economy is bad because of their media and social media consumption. They DO viscerally feel the economy is bad because a 2L of Coke is now $2.79 instead of 99c.
The messaging is always there (gas prices literally every year a Dem is in office) but people didnt usually care until the current price gouging or some arbitrary line like $5/gallon.
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yes, yes they do! This poll shows they have no idea what the hell is going on.
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People are absolutely not just deciding on their own inflation is bad because the price of a bottle of coke went up. This is why:
https://x.com/mcopelov/status/1793306374882865167
People are not rational. People are not expressing some sort of combined experience in these polls. They are moronic morons listening to morons being puppeted by pieces of shit smart people. You have to counter this message, and forcefully.
How much does the cost of housing affect people’s views?
I feel like coming to the conclusion that “People are morons no matter what” is easy and satisfying, but not very useful.
If Joe Biden is pressed on why people are unhappy with the economy in November, I don’t think “Americans are morons” is going to be a winning Political message.
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I am telling you directly that people care deeply about how inflation turned into permanent price increases at the grocery store and very deeply about getting squeezed by rent for the same reason.
That they’re wrong about a recession (egghead economic term don’t currrrrr) and the S&P500 being up instead of down (too busy door dashing to check the stock portfolio sowwy) only matters inasmuch as it makes well off, well informed people feel superior which is really cool but not helpful.
Posting bar graphs with the conclusion people are stupid sucks. Stop it.
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I also think that inflation is a really tough concept for your average uninformed voter to comprehend.
Prices going up at 8% in 2023 and 3% in 2024 still means that prices are going up. People hear “Inflation is slowing down” and translate that in their uninformed mind to “Prices are going back down” which are not the same thing.
But then uninformed voter hears from the White House and Media that “Inflation is slowing down” which in their head should mean “Prices are coming down” and when prices aren’t lower, they get pissed that the Ivory Tower Eggheads are trying to pull a fast one on them.
Again, this person is a moron, but outside of the Joe Rogan Experience becoming a remedial course for Econ 102 I’m not sure what you can do about that.
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What kind of dressing goes best with this word salad?
I object to your characterization of some of these piece of shit grifters as smart people
But more seriously, I think this chart is pretty telling and is exactly what we should expect given the broader outrage-maximization algorithm that infiltrates everything in life now. Inflation outrages people, gets clicks, and results in more articles about inflation. Same with “10 reasons an economist says we could have a recession!” Articles about how unemployment is down don’t generate that same outrage.
Also, unemployment is a thing that happens to other people. That’s not my problem. Inflation is a thing that happens to me, therefore it is my problem.
To be clear I don’t think current economic outlook (over the next few years to rest of my life) is great and I am personally quite pessimistic about it but I think we’re talking more about media trends here and it certainly seems like that has an effect.
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This. People internalize any personal wage growth within a few months, but they remember what a gallon of milk used to cost 20 years ago.
Expanding on this since suzzer mentioned personal wage growth:
Unemployment is a thing that happens to other people. That’s not my problem. Inflation is a thing that happens to me, therefore it is my problem. My wages went up because I am good at my job and I earned it.
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I don’t agree. Concerns about inflation actually greatly lagged with actual inflation rates, but are near perfectly in step with media coverage of inflation as a problem. The tail is wagging the dog here. This poll is evidence of that because it demonstrates that people have no fucking idea what’s going on with anything in the economy.
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It’s possible that this lag is due to the same error that @zimmer4141 discussed:
Certainly some of it is, because nobody even knows what the instantaneous inflation rate is. The inflation rate itself is calculated for past periods by comparing prices through some period of time. Egghead economists can get an accurate measure over relatively short and recent periods but even then regular people may not notice. People notice when prices change, and that takes a cumulative effect of high rates sustained over time.
A big negative impact for renters and people trying to buy, very little emotional/perceived upside for the owners that benefit from rising prices because the “gain” is a paper gain that they don’t experience until they sell.
It’s a shame because this could be interesting discussion but Ike’s it not smart enough to follow along.
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More concerning to me is what seems to be an all too common belief that the inflation was all caused by Biden and it will all be magically fixed by Trump.
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Is the problem that people are being fooled by right-wing narratives enabled by a complicit national media or is the problem that the center-left is bad at crafting competing narratives?
I have no idea who you are.