If you get your news delivered through the filter of pro-Democratic media and commentators, you probably know why so much of the US public is down on the economy and on Joe Biden’s presidency: they’re so blinded by partisanship or deluged with overly pessimistic news about the economy that they’ve been deluded into believing things are much worse than they really are. That explanation remains a leading frame of analysis in the world of mainstream liberal commentary despite the mountain of data that shows the level of suffering in the US economy is very real and very serious.

“People say it’s a terrible economy, but what’s really odd is that people don’t behave as if it’s a terrible economy,” economist Paul Krugman told CNN yesterday. “We don’t really understand why this is happening. . . .  There’s a real profound disconnect going on.”

Krugman should have read the brand-new Census Bureau data that came out the day of his interview, which may have aided his understanding. The release gives us another extremely concerning data point to add to the list of them. The top-line news is that poverty rose in 2022, in particular child poverty, which by one measure exploded by the single-biggest clip on record.