To summarize what other posters have been saying: people judge the economy mostly by their more frequent expenses: groceries, and rent.   Gas is known to fluctuate up and down, so we discount the good news (we know at some point it will rise again).  Also the stock market is a number that I'd imagine is important to many (i.e., their portfolio is affected more by its value than by GDP).What numbers stick out the most in my head: the Halal guy on the corner just raised his price of a gyro from $6 to $7 (and it was $5 for years before the hike last year to $6).   Also, CostCo's soda at the concession stand went from $0.59 to $0.69: these are 17% increases.Last, I was using renewable energy sources for my electricity, and that went up: are there shortages of solar and wind?   I thought these prices were supposed to drop over time as pricepoint to deploy these technologies lessened.

To summarize what other posters have been saying: people judge the economy mostly by their more frequent expenses: groceries, and rent.   Gas is known to fluctuate up and down, so we discount the good news (we know at some point it will rise again).  Also the stock market is a number that I'd imagine is important to many (i.e., their portfolio is affected more by its value than by GDP).What numbers stick out the most in my head: the Halal guy on the corner just raised his price of a gyro from $6 to $7 (and it was $5 for years before the hike last year to $6).   Also, CostCo's soda at the concession stand went from $0.59 to $0.69: these are 17% increases.Last, I was using renewable energy sources for my electricity, and that went up: are there shortages of solar and wind?   I thought these prices were supposed to drop over time as pricepoint to deploy these technologies lessened.

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