(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Fact vs. Fiction: Our Economic Reality [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-06-04 I’m dumbfounded that polling shows the majority of Americans believe convicted felon/four-time indicted/twice impeached/sexual assaulter/tax fraudster/former president Donald Trump would do a better job with the economy than President Joe Biden. This is especially confusing because when Trump left the White House the economy was in the dumpster, in large part because of his corrupt, politically driven, idiotic approach to the deadly Covid-19 virus. A lot of people would still be alive today if he had done the job he was elected to do. I know prices are still higher than in the past, and people see this as a gauge of our economy and assume everything is going bad. It isn’t. A recent column by Catherine Rampell in the Washington Post looked at the disengagement from reality that so many people have when it comes to our economic condition. Its title says it all: “Nearly everything Americans believe about the economy is wrong.” Sifting through the results of a recent Harris-Guardian poll, Rampell found that “perceptions of the U.S. economy are often at odds with reality.” For instance: *55 percent of those polled think the economy is shrinking. In reality, the U.S. economy has been growing consistently for nearly two years, even after counting for inflation. “By virtually every benchmark, in fact, we’re exceeding growth expectations,” Rampell writes. *49 percent think the unemployment rate is at a 50-year high. It’s actually almost the opposite. Unemployment has been below four percent for more than two years, the longest stretch of time it stayed that low since the Nixon administration. *49 percent said stock markets were down since the beginning of the year. In reality, the S&P 500 is up more than 10 percent, and major equity market indexes have recently reached all-time highs. *Nearly three quarters of respondents think inflation is increasing, when it has definitely slowed down. *A majority of respondents believe we’re in a recession, while almost no professional economic forecasters agree. Why is this happening? Why are so many of us uninformed, an ignorance that could lead to Trump’s election and the disastrous turn our country will surely take under his “leadership?” Rampell has some ideas. One is that journalists generally report more on bad economic numbers than good ones. “We’ve done a lousy job of helping the public understand what the right benchmarks are …” She adds that “bad-news bias” is not only in the media, but in the general public. “This human predisposition toward negativity is not unique to economic news, nor news in general.” Also, some economic jargon can mean different things to economists than it does to regular folks, causing a difference in perception. You can read the column here. *** Rampell’s reasoning makes sense, but I’m going to add one of my own: the Right is lying about the economy. The Right lies all the time, and it isn’t going to stop lying. In the conservative news silo bullshit is the gospel. Get your news only from Right-wing sources and you’ll never know the truth. A lot of politicians lie, but have we ever seen anything like the onslaught of lies coming from the Republicans today? Forget how dirty they play at your own peril. We voters have a responsibility to know what’s going on, and dealing with so many lies coming from Republican politicians and the Right-wing media doesn’t help any. I suggest remembering Rampell’s points about the economy and repeating them to people who don’t know the truth. Good luck with that. I can’t say it better than Rampell when she writes, “… the most useful thing you personally can do to help the public be more informed about good news, on the economy or anything else? Reward it with your attention.” They say ignorance is bliss. Well, if that ignorance leads to a second Trump term and Republican control of Congress, we’ll have nothing to be blissful about. *** Thank you for reading my post. You can see my other writings on my blog: Musings of a Nobody. Please share and subscribe for free via email on its home page. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/6/4/2244666/-Fact-vs-Fiction-Our-Economic-Reality?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/