June 10, 2023
Seems the NYT still can’t get access to the government’s data on consumption. It ran an article telling readers that demand for wedding rings has fallen. This is very plausibly explained by fewer people having met up during the pandemic, and therefore fewer people getting married. However, the subhead adds “Inflation and anxiety among shoppers haven’t helped.”
In spite of this astute diagnosis of the country’s economic ills by the NYT, the Commerce Department’s data tell a very different story. These data show that real (inflation-adjusted) sales of jewelry were 26.4 percent higher in the first quarter of 2023 than in the fourth quarter of 2019 (Line 62).
This seems like yet another case where the country’s media are determined to tell a horrible economy story, bravely refusing to let the data get in the way.
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