'Americans are deeply pessimistic'

A half full glass of water next to a half empty glass of water

Why are people gloomier than "when the economy was objectively worse, like in the 1970s and early 1980s?"

(Image credit: Getty Images)

published 30 October 2023

'Why is pessimism worse than at times when the economy was objectively worse?'

Claudia Sahm at Bloomberg

"The economy is strong," says Claudia Sahm at Bloomberg. Consumer spending jumped 4% last quarter. Real net worth skyrocketed from 2019 to 2022. But polls show far more Americans are "expecting the economy to be worse in the next five years than better." Why are people gloomier than "when the economy was objectively worse, like in the 1970s and early 1980s?" Blame social media. Negative posts amplify "bad news over good news," resulting in "amped-up pessimism."

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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.