The Misery Index over time from this item at Bloomberg puts our current condition into proper perspective and, based on estimates from the 1920s during the so-called “Coolidge Prosperity” when the misery index averaged about 6, one can draw parallels to the years leading up to the most recent bust. At some point, historians will likely begin calling the last decade the era of “Bush Prosperity” that, as was the case 80 years prior, led to disaster.
One thing is certain about the chart above – the government needs to revise its calculation of the unemployment numbers like it did the inflation numbers in the 1980s and 1990s if it ever wants to get the misery index back down to “prosperity” levels.
