Why does the economy feel so bad when it sounds so good?

President Donald Trump took credit for a strong economy today, in his speech after the Senate acquitted him in his impeachment trial: “If we didn’t win, the stock market would’ve crashed. And the market was going up a lot before the election because it was looking like we had a good chance to win. And then it went up tremendously from the time we won the election to the time we took office, which was November 8 to January 20, and that’s our credit. That’s all our credit. And leading up to that point was our credit, because there was hope. And one of the reasons the stock market’s gone up so much in the last few days is people think we’re doing so well. They liked the State of the Union speech.”

He talked about the economy a lot during his State of the Union speech too: “The unemployment rate for African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Asian Americans has reached the lowest levels in history.”

With election season now in full swing, Trump is expected to focus a lot on the economy to boost his case for four more years. It’s by far his strongest issue, with unemployment at record lows and the stock market at record highs.

But many people aren’t actually feeling this because of the high costs of health insurance, housing, and childcare. There’s also a spike in homelessness.

We talk about the disconnect between the economic numbers and the reality many people experience.