Article Reflection No. 15 (6/16/2022)

Article: The pain the US is feeling from inflation is the opposite of the slow, hellish recovery after 2008 — which was much worse for their finances

Reflection:

In this article, Ben Winck and Madison Hoff deliver a more optimistic view of accelerating inflation in the U.S by comparing this financial crisis to the Great Recession. To make their point, the journalists emphasize two main ideas: the labor market is flourishing, and the coronavirus pandemic was not a major setback for the U.S. economy.

According to the writers, the labor market is “thriving” now, although the U.S. “endured a decline in employment during the coronavirus crash that was twice as severe as the Great Recession’s” (Insider 12). “The rebound”, they write, “have been markedly faster” (Insider 12). To further compare the present to the past as a reflection in history, the article states that it took 76 months for non-farm payrolls to reach levels near the pre-recession peak. Now, the nation is on-track to complete the pandemic job recovery by next month. This is also a clever way of using Authors’ Craft. Persuasion comes with statistics (logos), and offering the comparison of 24 and 76 months unequivocally shows that the financial situation right now may be better compared to the last.

Secondly, to argue that the coronavirus pandemic was not a major setback for the U.S. economy, Winck and Hoff state how “it took just two quarters for the amount of money US households held in aggregate to climb above its pre-pandemic level” and that “household balance sheet totals now sit about 28% above the levels observed in the fourth quarter of 2019” (Insider 8). This means that the amount of money each household holds has generally risen throughout the pandemic, despite the labor shortages in those two years. Through this, people are generally able to afford higher prices that are brought along with inflation. Household balance is a topic that resonates with most U.S. residents and showing proof of its rise is also another effective method of persuasion.

My knowledge concerning economics is not broad, but by reading articles, keeping track on what is going on, and using nearby resources to learn more, I hope to acquire insight.

Photo Credit: ABC10