Very few people give a damn about "the economy." People care about maintaining their standard of living and maintaining a sense of material security. Since improvements in GDP, the stock market, unemployment, or whatever no longer bear more than a weak apparent relationship with either of those concerns, why should that motivate anyone to vote for the party in power? These will only become subjects of interest for most of us during the next crisis, when we are told that we cannot but accept cuts to services, lower wages, reduced job security, and all of the rest to an even greater degree than we have already.
Good post.
Agreed. The fundamental issue with how people discuss economic recovery in these academic terms is that it does not bear on how most people experience it. Many people are not experiencing any improvement, so it does not impress them to speak of one.
