August 16, 2023

I was no doubt triggered by Michelle Singletary’s column in today’s Washington Post: “Consumers are confident inflation is waning. Are they too optimistic?”

If consumer confidence is major psychological component in helping create a vibrant economy, the mainstream media seems hellbent on undermining it. Since early last year, we’ve heard dire predictions of impending recession from economists who’ve, so far, been off the mark. Still, the Washington Post, New York Times, and network news programs relentlessly warn of imminent economic trouble.

Former Harvard president and U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers and Goldman Sachs’ Jamie Dimon have practically made a cottage industry of predicting looming recession. In October 2022 Summers predicted a global recession in mid-2023. He now says it will be later in 2023. Or, for sure in 2024.