Maybe it's people whose individual finances are doing better recently and aren't really affected by any of the downturns. Though when I take a poll online I always say the economy's gotten worse because of what I read and see on the news, my own personal financial nadir was about a year ago, and my own personal finances have improved so much since then (though there's still a long ways to go) that I feel (emotionally, not logically) that the economy is just fine.
Gas prices don't affect me: I don't drive, and my family's bus passes are pretax, really cheap and/or completely reimbursed by our employers.
Despite grocery prices going up, my food expenses are way lower because we eat at home almost every meal versus eating out about 1/3 of the time, and thanks to menu planning barely throw out any groceries.
We don't have much saved, so our investments aren't taking much of a hit.
My mortgage will reset in October but there's a good chance it will reset lower or about the same as it is. My husband's UK mortgage rates have lowered twice in the past year.
So yeah, if I didn't read the news I might be part of the "puff-puff-give" 29%! :P
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