It just feels like a downturn to the average person. A lot of this supposed growth is the real purchasing power of the dollar dropping precipitously leading to an asset bubble. And what economic growth is real trickles down to the middle class in the form of stagnant salaries and layoffs.
Tons of jobs created: yeah, but minimum income ones that nobody wants. Middle class job creation is stagnant or negative. Inflation tamped down: yes, primarily by manipulating the CPI calculation. Real prices are still rising.
I agree with your comments more than the parent you are replying to. Inflation is staggering. Those of us, mostly older people, with lots of capital are benefiting by the booming stock prices, etc., but average workers whose income is mostly salary are screwed.
I do think things are generally good right now, and I expect because of the upcoming presidential election the economy will be manipulated to look good, but we will hit an inflection point where the cost of paying interest on government and personal debt will collapse the economy, at least for a while.
I have what is probably a worthless prediction: the many democracies, true democracies, around the world will generally do all right over the next ten years, but I think the US, Russia, and China will all have serious problems. There are exceptions to this: countries like South Korea will also have problems stemming from really low birth rates. So, I am betting most of the world will do quite well over the long term, but a few countries will not.
I would say that a lot of the economy feeling bad is due to shrinkflation and jacked prices which happened during Covid that will never return to “normal.” Even if inflation is normal this year, it will still feel bad compared to recent memory, because in the last couple of years it increased by much more.
There is another aspect where most people I know (including low income in low cost of living areas) can often live comfortably, but some things like buying a house are absolutely less accessible.
Tons of jobs created: yeah, but minimum income ones that nobody wants. Middle class job creation is stagnant or negative. Inflation tamped down: yes, primarily by manipulating the CPI calculation. Real prices are still rising.