It’s because in 2015-16 there was a recession when it came to the manufacturing industry so the latter Obama economy depended on which sector you worked in . Today the answer can’t be more obvious and that is the economy is clearly not as good as it was in 2019:
- Tech Industry is in way worse shape and not hiring anywhere close to as they used to .
- You had a massive amount of retirements during Covid so unemployment numbers are more skewed due to that
- cost of living crises is way way worse than it was in 2019 .
Even if the rate of inflation is lower than it was in 2021 and 2022, basic things like housing and food are still considerably more expensive than they were in 2019.
It says a lot about the user base of this site that a popular answer to this question is to blame freedom of the press. Anyone who spends a few minutes reflecting on what it was like to manage a household budget in 2019 compared to today knows the answer to this question.
Even if the rate of inflation is lower than it was in 2021 and 2022, basic things like housing and food are still considerably more expensive than they were in 2019.
In 2019, US food inflation ranged from 1.6% to 2.1%, and as of February 2024, it is at 2.2%.
Yes, food prices are marginally higher than they were in 2019, but not nearly enough to justify such a huge difference in the public's perception of the economy at-large, especially since wages, employment rates, and stock prices have all increased significantly more than food prices.
And housing inflation has actually decreased since 2019 (2019: 2.89%, 2024: 2.75%).
Yes, inflation overall is slightly higher than in 2019, but wages, employment rates, stock prices, and just about everything else are significantly higher.
While economists understand that deflation isn't a good thing, when lots of inflation occurs quickly (as in 2021 and 2022), the new prices don't have time to be a mental baseline for a lot of people. There's still a sense that prices are too high because they're so much higher than 2019 or 2020, even if the inflation rate has come back down.
And, inflation versus five years ago is much higher in 2024 (relative to 2019) than it was in 2019 (relative to 2014).
