Back to the BYU Cougars Newsfeed

David Leonhardt: GDP is broken, but we can fix it

The Commerce Department will announce the latest GDP numbers Friday, and they will probably be solid. The economy seems to be growing at an annual rate of about 2%, which is not bad for the 11th year of an expansion.

After the numbers come out, something else will probably happen: Pundits will once again express bafflement about the apparent disconnect between the healthy U.S. economy and the sour national mood.

But there is really no disconnect. The fault — with apologies to Shakespeare — is in our stats, not ourselves.

Americans are dissatisfied, and have been for years, largely because the economy as most people experience it has not been booming.