This is planet money from NPR.
We have ourselves a proper economic mystery on our hands.
For like all of modern economic times, there has been this basic truth.
When the economy is doing well, people, they can feel that.
And if the economy is not doing well, well, they can feel that, too.
It's not rocket science, but, you know, it's like gravity or whatever.
It matters.
And we know this because for 80 years now we have been measuring consumer sentiment, quantifying people's vibes about the economy.
But, and here is that mystery.
It appears somehow right now we have lost our ability to feel the economy.
And the economists, they are perplexed.
Yeah.
So, no, I am scratching my head.
Claudia Sahm is an economist used to work at the Federal Reserve, was one of the advisors for pandemic emergency emergency programs like stimulus checks.
And for the last few years, Claudia has been carefully watching consumer sentiment.
Sentiment plummeted when the pandemic began.
Reasonable, no surprise, right?
Worst recession since the Great Depression.
Yeah.
But then, you know, some of these pandemic era economic programs start to roll out.