If you pay too much attention to the network news, you will conclude that the country is in decline, and is in desperate trouble. Prices are soaring; the virus still rages; there are no goods on the shelves; and no one is in charge, except the cultural left. Things could hardly be worse.
But seriously? If you’re a businessman, you’re probably generating excellent profits, and the value of your company has gone up in 2021. If you’re a retiree, your Social Security is about to go up by six percent, and your investment income is doing just fine, since the markets are doing perfectly well. If you’re a formerly unemployed worker, you either have a job that pays better, or the luxury of waiting for a new opportunity, courtesy of savings deriving from enhanced unemployment benefits. If you had a job the entire year, your income on its face may not have kept up with inflation, but the stimulus payment left you in an overall better position, even after inflation.
The answer to the question is everyone. The problem is that we have short memories, and the media only focus on today–not the bigger picture. What stimulus payment? What new job? What improvement with the virus? What additional savings? That’s so, well, June.