The misery index is traditionally inflation rate plus U-3 unemployment rate. The RENTER misery index is the Zillow Rent Index YoY + U-3 unemployment rate to demonstrate the hardship of renters because of soaring home prices.
Notice that because of rising home prices, the Renter misery index has overwhelmed the improvement in unemployment.
As I typically do, I will now include The Fed’s balance sheet (as a proxy for Fed stimulus and supporting Federal government expenditures). Yes, you can see that The Fed and Federal government are responsible for our modern day “Grapes of Wrath.”
If we look at the TRADITIONAL misery index, we see that misery remains above 10 (it was below 6 prior to the COVID outbreak in early 2020).
Remember that the REAL average hourly earning growth of Americans is NEGATIVE. Gains in wage growth more than offset by inflation.
I won’t even mention how inflation is crushing retirees since Social Security and pension plans rarely adequately compensate retirees for inflation.
Now for the really bad news. 81-year old senior, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, has announced that she is running for Congress yet again from leftist-stronghold San Francisco. Although she has an expensive home in Georgetown and a beautiful vineyard in Napa Valley. Pelosi’s vineyard only sells grapes to other wine makers. Not bad for a career civil servant!
I really wanted Pelosi to produce a wine called “The Grapes of Wrath” in honor of her insider trading and massive wasteful spending of taxpayer money that has helped generate inflation, rampant government debt growth and hurting retirees and hourly workers.
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