Goldman Sachs identified a potential culprit for sour consumer sentiment readings: A decline in happiness.
The consumer sentiment index tracked by the University of Michigan hit record lows this year. The index fell 13% year over year in September, due to a drop of almost 8% from August alone.
Economists have widely questioned why sentiment has remained depressed since the Covid pandemic, even as the economy hummed along on paper. Goldman economist Joseph Briggs told clients this week that the downward pressure may stem from broader pessimism in society.
“Low reported economic sentiment likely reflects a more fundamental, downbeat assessment of the state of the world rather than the economy,” Briggs wrote to clients.
Its not the escalating COLA? It definitely isn’t the coming disel crunch. It’s just a sour mood?
You know what helps me when I am in a bad mood? Comfort food. Maybe this Goldman guy should advise that the government let the people eat cake. That sort of advice has always had a good outcome.
I visited a flea market today - a big one in my region - for the first time in a very long time. To my horror, it was 50% TEMU trash - all sales final. It was selling. It made me really, really sad. People buying cheap shit online, marking it up, and selling it to their neighbors. Maybe there is some not-garbage in there but a huge portion of it is just going to fail and end up in a landfill in a year… and this is becoming normal for these people. Things just wear out rapidly and get thrown away and they buy a replacement.
We’re killing each other and destroying ecosystems and the climate… so that we can make… this. We’re fucked.
“Solid economy” 😂
IKR? Are these guys falling for Bessent-style blame-it-on-Biden nonsense?
We are both in a “golden age” while also suffering so cruelly under what Biden left the low-t admin to “deal with” (these phantom policies and situations are never given any specifics, of course) after he left, even nearly two years later.
I’m just waiting for the AI bubble to pop. It will go along nicely with the already rampant inflation, high gas prices, and shitty job market.
economy built on a solid foundation of serfs…
To be sure, Briggs said inflationary pressures are likely also hurting confidence. But he said “lower happiness” at large can partially explain the continued disconnect between sentiment and other measures of the economy’s performance, such as gross domestic product growth or stock market performance, that offer rosier views.
It’s almost shocking how out of touch they are. The wealthiest 10% of Americans own 93% of stocks according to a 2024 article.
Briggs also cited a connection between lower overall happiness readings and decreasing trust in institutions. He found that lower trust in these bodies caused a “disproportionate amount” of the decline in net happiness in recent years.
Given the connection to non-economic variables, consumer sentiment readings may not improve even if the economy continues chugging along, Briggs said. As a result, consumer sentiment may become a less useful predictor of economic dynamics, he said.
It’s like a parody, or something the onion would write. Economists aren’t serious people.
Diesel hit record rates and these guys are claiming it’s about the vibes?
You know what? Pizza party for the whole country. And you can wear jeans on Friday. You’re welcome.
This from the same financial brain trust that suggested that curing sick people is bad for business.
Not just at record prices but also the LA to Dallas route is slowing down which is for those not in the know real fucken bad.
I guess I’m not in the know…what does this mean?
I was not either and looked it up.
They’re referring to that corridor being one of the largest in terms of supply chain for the rest of the county.
A slow down in that supply chain is an indicator of weak retail demand.
I can’t quantify anything for you, but it sounds like another indicator that the stock market doesn’t actually represent how well ‘the economy’ is doing.
As the other guy noted it’s basically one of the big routes for the movement of goods within the US also one of the longer ones. If it slows down it’s usually a right fucken bad sign and usually is a pretty solid real world economic indicator of how the economy is doing even if it’s a tad imprecise. I live right by where the CA 60 merged with the 10 which is a pretty major merger section and it has been getting increasingly sparce.
Basically to put it in other terms it’d be like living on the Adriatic during the late medieval era and watching Venetian ships coming to port less and less. You may not know what’s causing it exactly but you know it’s not good regardless.
Nobody can afford anything they want because they have to spend all their money on necessities. But by god ✨ the economy ✨ sure is looking good, so what’s the problem???
I blame Goldman “Ball” Sachs as well. He’s part of the problem.
Let them eat cake.
