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While the billionaires have gotten trillions of dollars richer, the average Americans’ view of their economic future is the darkest since November 2011. That’s a low that is even worse than in the early days of the COVID War, according to the University of Michigan’s monthly survey of people’s economic outlook.
The index fell to 67.2 in January from 70.6 a month earlier, 11.8 points lower than a year ago.
Economists polled by Bloomberg had expected a ranking of 68.7.
Unemployment is near historic lows, wages in 2021 grew faster than at any time in decades, and the economy grew 5.7 percent last year, its fastest expansion in decades, including a 6.9-percent burst in last year’s final quarter.
However, individuals responding to the poll cited inflation and the COVID virus’s persistence as their overriding concerns and chief sources of gloom, Business Insider reported.
Inflation rose 0.4 percent in December from November and 5.8 percent through all of 2021; during the same month, after-tax personal income, adjusted for inflation, shrank 0.2 percent, the fifth month in a row that take-home pay has lost ground to higher prices.
Public confidence in the federal government’s economic management is its lowest since 2014, the poll found.
The U.S. Federal Reserve’s looming interest rate increases may worsen the public mood if it is seen as part of the economic problem instead of part of the solution, survey officials warned.
TREND FORECAST: People’s economic outlook is always determined by what they see in their bank accounts, fuel bills, and grocery receipts. The public’s outlook will not improve until inflation eases significantly and inflation is largely tamed.
Neither is likely to happen until at least the second half of this year.