It’s remarkable how many people have now admitted the economy was good as of January 1 now that it is no longer good. I feel like I spent 2018 and 2019 telling disbelieving liberals that both objective data and subjective sentiment surveys were the best in 20 years.
The data did show good employment numbers but income numbers had just started creeping up as the pandemic hit. Numbers don't pay rent. Larger paychecks do. Note the number of renters went up. The number of people with less than $400 of emergency cash went up.