Biden says the economy is booming, is it really doing great

Keeping it Real Thursday December 21, 2023

The following is from my Keeping it Real Show from Thursday, December 21.

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The U.S. is experiencing a robust economy with unemployment at a 50-year low (3.6 percent), recent wage growth (4.4 percent), and retail spending keeping pace with inflation.

This was White House Spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre talking about Bidenomics and how it may take a while for people to feel the positivity of the economy.

However, the Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index reveals that despite the positive economic indicators, most Americans don't feel the economic strength.

While improved from a historic low, the sentiment still lags behind historical standards. The disconnect between strong economic data and public perception raises questions.

So what is going on?

I talked to University of Michigan Flint economics Christopher Douglas who tells me what he thinks is behind this trend and what to look out for in 2024.

“The numbers suggest we are in a positive place, inflation is going down but the vibes of people suggest we are not in a good place,” said Douglas.

A report just released by the U.S. Census Bureau helps answer this question. Simply put, corrected for inflation, the earnings of most U.S. households declined significantly last year. For households in the middle of the economic distribution, the decline was 2.3%, from $76,330 in 2021 to $74,580 in 2022. In all, about seven in 10 households, representing about three-quarters of the electorate, experienced reduced incomes.

The decline was across the board. It included men as well as women, married couples as well as single-headed households, and full-time as well as part-time workers. It did not reflect a decrease in work effort; on the contrary, the number of full-time workers increased twice as fast as did the workforce as a whole. Nor did it reflect a decrease in the pay workers received, which rose by a brisk 4.6% in 2022. Rather, the rate of inflation, 7.8%, outstripped the rate of pay increases so that the income of most households did not buy as much as it had in the previous year. Americans noticed this decrease, and as the polls indicate, they did not like it.

Also this week the number of homeless in the United States has hit record highs.

The 2023 Annual Homeless Assessment Report shows that more than 653,000 people were experiencing homelessness in the U.S. — marking a 12% increase from 2022.

I talked to Pastor Steve Roe from Bay City, Michigan who heads up a food pantry. He told me about the need in the community and how this is some of the worst times he has seen when it comes to homelessness and people needing assistance.

If you would like to help Pastor Roe’s mission to feed the hungry in Bay City, Michigan you can click this link to donate or to volunteer your time.

I want to wish all of you a Merry Christmas and thank all of you for supporting my dream of making my independent journalism a reality.