One of the things that is amusing to me is the way the mainstream media is perplexed by how Americans think about the economy. Today’s Wall Street Journal gives a classic example:

Americans are feeling decidedly sour about the economy and those in charge of it, fueling Democratic efforts to target business interests in the 2008 election campaign.

More than two-thirds of Americans believe the U.S. economy is either in recession now or will be in the next year, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll shows. That assessment comes despite the fact the economy has experienced sustained growth with low inflation and unemployment and generally rising stock values ever since the recession that ended early in President Bush’s tenure.

    The second paragraph is the key. The reporter wonders how it can be that Americans remain "sour" despite the fact that the economy has "experienced sustained growth." Well, the fact is when inequality is growing and when CEOs and the top one percent are raking in the lion’s share of the nation’s income, looking at overall numbers tells you very little about the state of the economic security of most Americans.

    When wages are not going up in any dramatic fashion, when people have no health care and are paying escalating costs for health care they might have, when energy costs are on the rise, when people have stayed above water by using the value of their homes as a financial lifeline (a lifeline that is now evaporating), well, I could go on but when that is happening, it’s no wonder people don’t feel secure about their economic future.

    But, reporters don’t get this. And until they are willing to treat "economic growth" as nothing more than a measure of how much stuff is being made, they won’t see the real situation most Americans face.