… Over the past five months — and especially since the presidential election — the parties have switched places. Democrats became notably more buoyant, while Republicans just as quickly turned gloomy. The nature of economic policy debates during a strikingly unequal recovery is likely to cement such divergent views, according to Richard Curtin, chief economist for the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index.
“A rise in inequality caused a growing share of the population to think the only way to get a fair distribution of income and wealth was through public policy,” Curtin said. “Politics and policy now have a greater impact on people’s expectations about how the economy will perform in the years ahead. That’s why it’s not going away.” CONTINUED
David J. Lynch, Washington Post