Now here’s a thing. American unemployment is at a 50-year low. Confidence is growing that the US may have dodged a bullet – there is not going to be the much-touted recession next year. The American stock market is breaking all-time highs after seven weeks of near continuous gains. It is an economy in rude health – with nearly every dial on the economic dashboard flashing green.
Yet at the same time US consumers are suffused with gloom. The president’s low approval ratings do not budge. He is so disliked he is advised never to use the word “Bidenomics” to describe the policies responsible for this economic success. Donald Trump has close to an unassailable lead in the Republican primaries, and is ahead of Biden in the opinion polls for the presidency. What works economically is not working politically.
