Washington Post (May 8)
“Why are Americans so gloomy about the economy? Jobs are plentiful and unemployment is back at pre-pandemic lows, yet sentiment is in the dumps.” Inflation is “the obvious answer,” but “a deeper force” better explains “why Americans are so upset: scarcity.” Inventories of homes and cars are at record lows while stockouts at supermarkets are double or triple standard levels. “There is good economic news, but until Americans can easily get ahold of what they want, too many will still feel like they’re not able to get ahead.”
Tags: Cars, Economy, Gloomy, Homes, Inflation, Inventories, Jobs, Obvious, Plentiful, Pre-pandemic, Scarcity, Sentiment, Stockouts, U.S., Unemployment
LA Times (January 31)
Though the periodic table may seem “obvious today…it wasn’t to generations of early chemists. One hundred and fifty years ago, “that changed when Dmitri Mendeleev started writing a textbook and pondered ways to group the elements together in order to lighten his load.” The resulting periodic table “has become an icon of science. Its rows and columns provide a tidy way of showcasing the elements — the ingredients that make up the universe.”
