Splashed alloverpageone today: the US economy shows strong growth. (And by “economy”, of course, the media actually mean GDP plain and simple.) But do the GDP numbers lie?

Readers of this blog probably know we’re abittouchy on this subject. Today, I’ll spare you my ranting and pull a quote from Ezra Klein at Tapped:

,,,macro data tells you very little about the economic experience of most folks, which accounts for the massive disconnect between how the Bush administration and the media seem to think the economy is doing (tubularly!) and the 63% of the public who think the situation fair or poor. For some more indicative numbers, head over to the Wall Street Journal, where you learn that wages and salaries grew only 0.7% over this period, while prices for U.S. consumers rose 2.7%. The labor market, which has tightened up, is seeing a weird combination of low unemployment without corresponding wage growth.

That just about gets it right.