Scott Alexander

I think the best explanation is just inflation.

This is what is most different from 2021 to 2024 compared to previous time periods.

But you can also blame the shift to remote work or higher housing prices.

Examples of bad explanations would be phones bad, media bad, or inequality bad, without explaining why they became worse in 2021.

end quote scott writes i agree that if you follow the consumer confidence numbers and date it to 2021 to 2022 inflation is an easy culprit and we don't need to look for anything more my theory predicts that some sort of vibe session will continue even when inflation is far in the past

Zamakibo writes, quote, here quoting Scott, there is one anomaly which is that I remember people complaining about the bad economy and the boomers and hell world since well before 2020.

Consider the Trump and Sanders campaigns.

But the official vibes didn't crash until COVID.

Is my memory faulty?

Here the commenter says, my memory is the same and I'm now asking the same question.

Every chart in this post seems to support, or at least not contradict, the following story.

2008, subprime mortgage crisis, economy is bad, vibes are bad.

2009 to 2018, economy steadily improves, vibes steadily improve.

By 2019, vibes are about as good as 1998.

2020.

Pandemic.

Economy is bad.

Vibes are bad.

2021 to present.

Economy is... complicated?