J B

Seriously, is the Washington Post’s David Ignatius that scarily uninformed about the world of US consumers financial well-being outside his little DC bubble? You were asking him to describe why consumers feel poorer after a simple trip to the supermarket, and his ludicrous deflection was how he couldn’t remember when a President got less credit for turning the US economy around — which is just nonsense as you were factually alluding to. Here’s an article that clearly explains why Ignatius’ comments are just made up that appear in the San Diego Union Tribune. I hope you will read it: “Here’s why San Diegans feel poorer after a pay raise” San Diegans’ personal income dropped in 2022, along with much of the nation, as inflation cut into wage gains. The real personal income of San Diego County residents dropped 4.4 percent last year, said data released this week by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. That was higher than the average national decline of 4.2 percent, but lower than the average California decrease of 6.9 percent. Real personal income is a catch-all way of looking at how much money Americans earn in a year. The number includes wages, interest, dividends from stocks and government benefits, which are then reduced by the inflation rate. Last year marked the first time since 2008, when personal income dropped by 3.2 percent, that San Diego County residents saw their incomes decline. It likely has happened other times in history, but the bureau has only been keeping records of metro areas’ personal income since 2008. Technically speaking, 2022 is now the biggest drop in personal income for San Diego that we have records for. Like the rest of the nation, San Diego experienced record income gains during the pandemic, spurred on by stimulus payments, student loan pauses and a surging stock market. Personal income was up by 5.5 percent in 2020, and 2.7 percent in 2021. Alan Gin, economist at the University of San Diego, said inflation was the primary driver of reducing incomes because it outpaced wage gains. Data tracked by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta said wage gains reached a 20-year high in 2022, but the latest federal report shows much of that was eaten up by inflation. “If your real income is falling, you are falling behind,” Gin said. “You aren’t able to save much and have to spend more to make ends meet.”