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The ‘boomcession’: Why Americans feel left behind by a growing economy
CNBC ^ | 02 18 2026 | Alex Harring

Posted on 02/18/2026 7:04:21 AM PST by yesthatjallen

-The U.S. economy could be in a “boomcession.”

- A portmanteau of the words “boom” and “recession,” the term can help explain why many Americans don’t feel the economic growth appearing on paper.

Welcome to the “boomcession.”

The term is a portmanteau of the words “boom” and “recession.” It highlights how the average American doesn’t feel like they’re reaping the benefits of an economy that is — on paper — humming along, according to creator Matt Stoller.

Economic output and the stock market are surging, consumers are spending big and the post-pandemic recession that many expected never materialized. But many feel terrible about their finances, with debt at all-time highs, and the majority of Americans incorrectly believe the country is in an economic slowdown.

“Traditionally, the economy is doing really well,” said Stoller, an antimonopoly advocate and research director at the American Economic Liberties Project, a nonpartisan thinktank. “But ordinary people are saying they’re not.”

SNIP

(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: boomcession; economy; inflation
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To: Kleon

Do you buy gas? Gas also went down. Also, on average grocery prices have “effectively lessoned” compared to inflation and earnings, link provided. I could mention a lot of other things, so ya, stop with the lies.

https://factually.co/fact-checks/economics/why-grocery-prices-fell-2025-vs-2022-2024-e4c62e


21 posted on 02/18/2026 7:26:27 AM PST by Skwor
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To: Skwor

No, I don’t buy gas.


22 posted on 02/18/2026 7:27:24 AM PST by Kleon
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To: bert

Go grocery shopping. Insurance rates skyrocketing. Health insurance becoming unaffordable for young families. Imagine being 21 and trying to start a family, buy a house. The r’s will ignore or denigrate problems and will get hosed in november.


23 posted on 02/18/2026 7:27:29 AM PST by ozarker
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To: WhiteHatBobby0701

“many Americans don’t feel the economic growth appearing on paper.”
This assertion is typical Mainstream Media hallucination and fantasy. This writer think he knows how Americans “feel” about the economy, all 330 million of us. He just “knows” how other people feel, because he asks maybe one person, his cousin Vinny, how he feels and extrapolates that to 330 million other people.


24 posted on 02/18/2026 7:28:47 AM PST by brookwood (First the left said it was OK to steal. Next they said it was OK to kill.)
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To: yesthatjallen

While there has been moderation in the prices of stuff we use daily (milk, eggs, meat, gas, etc) the real killer is when one has to replace something like a car, A/C system, or other big ticket items. Those prices have gone from slightly up to ridiculous. Average auto price is approaching $40 large when before Cho Bi Dung it hovered around $25,000. Today $50,000 will buy you a car that may live to the end of it’s warranty - pure crap.

I am currently taking bids to replace one of my AC/heat pump systems. I was expecting to see bids around $8,000-$12,000. Silly me ... the first bid that came back was $22,000. AYFKM !


25 posted on 02/18/2026 7:29:33 AM PST by ByteMercenary (Election 2020 was stolen by mail-in voting. Mail-in voting and RCV counting should be abolished.)
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To: Kleon

How convenient, you buy nothing an average person buys and would not align with your assertion.

Quite convenient, also makes your input worthless because nothing you buy relates to the average person (”many Americans”) then. The article’s premise is the cost to the average person, so thank you for your pointless input, now move on as this does not concern you.


26 posted on 02/18/2026 7:32:01 AM PST by Skwor
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To: brookwood

What you don’t think a guy who owns a ‘portmanteau’ is in touch with the common man? And his cousin wouldn’t be named Vinny. It’s Trent...or Sloane...


27 posted on 02/18/2026 7:32:33 AM PST by Frank Drebin (And don't ever let me catch you guys in America!)
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To: yesthatjallen
portmanteau

I had to look this word up to see the definition.

When a writer is using a term that is not common, his intent is not to clarify, but to obfuscate.

All individuals approach the "state of the economy" depending on their own financial position.

Mrs, Alaska and I have zero debt, own our home and have savings in case of emergency so regardless of prices we are OK, but many people live by "kiting" credit card debt, pay check to pay check and for them, the view of the economy is through much different eyes.

Surveys and polls are so skewed that no one believes them and most are taken only to back the writer's point of view.

The elections are 8 and a half months away, so any position today will change multiple time before the election.

Relax, enjoy the day but turn off the news...how many times can these TV talking heads tell us that a dimwitted sheriff in Tuscon can't find his ass with both hands and a searchlight.

She and ZED are dead...

28 posted on 02/18/2026 7:32:55 AM PST by USS Alaska (NUKE THE MOOSELIMB TERRORIST SAVAGES)
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To: yesthatjallen

Think, people!

People don’t stop to think about statistics on income distribution. They see X-percent in the lower 25% of the distribution and compare that to the highest 25% and say there’s too much income inequality. What they fail to realize is that income distribution stats are snapshots taken at a point in time (a stock variable). The person serving french fries in the lowest 25% today might own 10 restaurants 15 years from now and be in the highest 1% of the income distribution. The danger is politicians count on this momentary inequality to make policy (a flow variable) and the public loves it because it “punishes” they very people who create jobs for the rest of us. Stop cutting off your nose to spite your face.


29 posted on 02/18/2026 7:35:26 AM PST by econjack
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To: yesthatjallen

You can leave yourself behind but there’s no need, the opportunities are waiting for you to take action.


30 posted on 02/18/2026 7:35:59 AM PST by SaxxonWoods (Annnd....I voted for this too!)
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To: yesthatjallen

Democrat policy has been to allow other countries to sell manufactured goods into the American market, hollowing our our industrial base, and therefore JOBS. Biden/Democrats deliberately imported 11 million or so immigrants to compete for the remaining labor jobs. That means there are not enough low-skill jobs to go around. People with criminal records, spotty work histories, no specialized skills or education, etc. are going to have a hard time getting high-paying jobs.

Women have done fairly well with “service” jobs, in retail, health care, admin, etc. Lots of men are outsiders to the “booming economy”. Some individuals have themselves to blame, some should blame Democrat and fatcat policy. Trump’s policies are designed to undo the damage, but it will take time.


31 posted on 02/18/2026 7:36:36 AM PST by Chewbarkah
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To: yesthatjallen

How about deliberately replacing nearly all our tech workers with Indians and Pakistani scabs? That has left a stain.


32 posted on 02/18/2026 7:38:32 AM PST by jroehl (And how we burned in the camps later - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - The Gulag Archipelago)
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To: 7thson

“When I was growing up -

An 8 ounce soda - 5 cents

A comic book - 12 cents

A McDonalds hamburger - 10 cents

A candy bar - 5 cents”

Posting half an equation has no meaning.

I remember those prices. I was making $1.00 an hour, about $160 a month, $1,920 a year. Now I make well over $140k a year pushing buttons for 10 minutes day at home.


33 posted on 02/18/2026 7:40:56 AM PST by SaxxonWoods (Annnd....I voted for this too!)
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To: Chewbarkah

H1-B, repeated efforts of wholesale replacements, and a subsequent medical crisis, makes me not feel like things are going all that great. There IS wealth concentration going on and the middle class is being slaughtered, even if many here don’t want to recognize it. It’s not a liberal view at all. The left hates the Christian white middle class and they want us gone.


34 posted on 02/18/2026 7:46:59 AM PST by StolarStorm
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To: yesthatjallen

Rush Limbaugh used to talk about this, basically whenever a republican is in office the media goes full blitz on trashing the economy, telling everyone it’s the worst since the great depression, etc. They create a mindset where people, even ones doing well, think ‘yeah I’m doing okay but I’m worried about my neighbors’.


35 posted on 02/18/2026 7:48:01 AM PST by pepsi_junkie ("We want no Gestapo or Secret Police. F. B. I. is tending in that direction." - Harry S Truman)
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To: Kleon
My Silver is down.

It's up over 100% in the past 9 months.

36 posted on 02/18/2026 7:50:46 AM PST by pepsi_junkie ("We want no Gestapo or Secret Police. F. B. I. is tending in that direction." - Harry S Truman)
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To: StolarStorm

There are more opportunities to become wealthy today than at any time in my life. Too many People are failing to take advantage of those opportunities and then blaming everyone else.


37 posted on 02/18/2026 7:50:49 AM PST by SaxxonWoods (Annnd....I voted for this too!)
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To: yesthatjallen

Pam Bondi says the Dow is at 50,000 so everything is going great; the Epstein Class should be allowed to continue with their backroom deals because it’s making everything beautiful and great.


38 posted on 02/18/2026 7:51:41 AM PST by bakeneko
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To: pepsi_junkie

Yes but what if “my” is only one month old?


39 posted on 02/18/2026 7:52:16 AM PST by bert ( (KE. NP. +12) Quid Quid Nominatur Fabricatur)
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To: bakeneko

and some continue to dis a fantastic woman because of sexism


40 posted on 02/18/2026 7:53:14 AM PST by bert ( (KE. NP. +12) Quid Quid Nominatur Fabricatur)
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