So many thoughts went through my head when I saw these two WSJ headlines right next to one another this morning… The first thing that came to mind was a quote from George Orwell’s 1984, “The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” The second thing was this idea of “You’re wrong; the data is right.” If I could give a grade for the general quality of our economic data today, I’d give it a D. Much of the data uses questionable methodology and doesn’t accurately reflect the economic reality on the ground. CPI is a perfect example of this. Garbage in, garbage out. Plus, pointing to a couple of data points and using them as reasons to invalidate how people are feeling is just asinine. The third thing was when an average grocery store list is up 37% over the last 5 years, people are going to feel that. They are going to feel financial anxiety grip them every week as they checkout. They are going to feel their paycheck being squeezed and like the economy is failing them. A lot of people don’t own any assets and, thus, haven't been able to shield themselves from the harmful effects of inflation. They don’t care that the stock market is near all-time highs. 166 million Americans don’t own stocks. They don’t care that home prices have soared. 116 million Americans don’t own a home. They care about prices at the grocery store. They care about the price at the gas pump. They care about the cost of their rent. The reality is many American households are struggling with the recent rise in the cost of living. It's better to recognize their struggle rather than point to some data points and tell them they’re wrong. Perhaps have some empathy and offer some potential solutions instead.