I think we should start separating discussion of “The Economy” from “human prosperity and wellbeing.” Because they are essentially two different things, only slightly related. The Economy can grow wildly while normal people are poor, suffering, and barely holding it together. I don’t care if corporations are doing great or if the GDP is high, if everything I need costs 3X what it used to and Im not sure if I’ll be employed next week.

While you are probably right in that The Economy, technically is growing, it doesn’t feel like it to normal people I know.

Meanwhile, consumer debt is at record highs.

https://www.newyorkfed.org/microeconomics/hhdc

The old problem with metrics like GDP, is that they consider the whole but not the parts, it is kinda saying that I and Musk have billions in wealth, but I am in debt.

The envoy from the ivory tower has arrived to inform us that actually, we are building taller steeples than ever before.

That's quite a shallow view:

Unemployment has increased.

Number of gig workers is at an all time high.

Layoffs have continued.

Polls show most people have financial anxiety and feel squeezed.

Inflation is not under control.

Buy now pay later usage is up as much as consumer spending is.

Income and wealth inequality are near records high.

GDP and consumer spending were also seen peaking before the last 5 recessions as well...

If you subtract AI companies, it has no growth.

If you look at all quarters in a chart it's not substantially different from the patterns we saw last year. We're just 2 quarters from when we posted a GDP contraction 1% lower YOY (this quarter is 1% higher YOY).

Anyone who trusts numbers coming out of the Trump admin is in for a big surprise.