Three theories have developed to help describe the dissonance between how the US cultural elites are describing the state of the economy (it’s f8cking great!) vs how people on the street are experiencing the economy (everything is so expensive!). Increasing wealth inequality - losses / gains realised over the past 2 years disproportionately fall on those who never had much / already had loads; media hype - people like me talking us into a ‘vibecession’ and finally, political polarisation and the geographic distribution of that polarisation. Great
explainer video on the economic principles (mis)informing the debate.