[ti:Americans Begin to Feel Better about Economy as Inflation Slows]
[by:www.21voa.com]
[00:00.00]更多听力请访问21VOA.COM
[00:00.04]Life is still more costly in the United States
[00:04.04]than it was about two years ago.
[00:07.12]But new research shows Americans
[00:10.20]are starting to feel better about the economy.
[00:14.16]An opinion study
[00:15.44]by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York
[00:18.48]found that Americans are increasingly hopeful
[00:22.56]that the inflation rate will continue to go down.
[00:26.64]The survey also found that the number of Americans
[00:31.32]who expect their financial situation to improve
[00:35.56]within the next year is at its highest since June 2021.
[00:43.04]In addition, the University of Michigan's Surveys of Consumers
[00:47.92]recently reported the largest two-month jump
[00:51.24]in consumer sentiment since 1991.
[00:55.32]Consumer sentiment is a measure
[00:58.16]of how optimistic consumers feel about the economy.
[01:03.76]That optimism is balanced, however,
[01:07.00]by the fact that most Americans remember
[01:10.36]paying much less for daily purchases
[01:14.20]such as fuel and food only two or three years ago.
[01:19.52]Many food items such as bread, milk and chicken
[01:25.52]are more costly than they were in February 2021.
[01:31.44]But economists say price increases
[01:34.68]have slowed significantly in the last year.
[01:38.72]At the same time, Americans are seeing
[01:42.44]pay increases higher than the rate of inflation.
[01:47.08]The inflation rate was about 9 percent in June 2022.
[01:53.64]Today, the rate is 3.4 percent.
[01:57.64]The U.S. Federal Reserve
[02:00.24]would like to see the rate at only 2 percent.
[02:04.60]Grace Zwemmer is an analyst at Oxford Economics.
[02:09.68]She said it took some time for Americans
[02:13.20]to feel the effects of falling inflation.
[02:16.76]But, she said, "it appears the good news
[02:20.32]is finally getting through."
[02:23.08]Political observers wonder
[02:25.20]if the change in feelings about the economy will
[02:28.60]help U.S. President Joe Biden's re-election campaign.
[02:33.56]Will people feel the drop in inflation
[02:37.76]or will they still remember that prices
[02:41.16]are much higher than they were two or three years ago?
[02:46.80]Ryan Cummings is an economist
[02:49.04]who studies how politics affect consumer confidence.
[02:52.96]He said many Americans today
[02:56.24]base their feelings about the economy
[02:59.32]on what they hear from the politicians they support.
[03:03.28]Cummings said Republicans are likely to speak
[03:06.88]negatively about the economic performance
[03:10.28]during Biden's presidency,
[03:12.56]even as Democrats speak of the economic gains.
[03:17.68]The University of Michigan research
[03:19.84]shows consumer sentiment among Democrats
[03:23.52]jumped almost 12 percent in January.
[03:26.64]That is the second-highest increase ever.
[03:29.68]Many Americans say they want to see the government
[03:33.44]take steps to bring the prices of food, oil and meat
[03:38.16]back to where they were in 2020 or 2021.
[03:43.28]But economic experts say that is not a good idea.
[03:48.08]The moves that would be required
[03:50.84]to make that happen would hurt the economy overall.
[03:54.76]Taxes could increase and jobs would be lost.
[03:59.68]David Andolfatto
[04:01.44]is an economist at the University of Miami.
[04:04.60]He used to work for the Federal Reserve.
[04:07.48]He said the better idea for Americans
[04:11.12]is to "just move ahead."
[04:14.04]He explained that while the cost of living
[04:16.88]is higher than it was two or three years ago,
[04:20.04]many Americans are
[04:21.48]making more money than they were then.
[04:24.32]"There's no need for (the government)
[04:26.20]to bring the price level back down.
[04:28.56]It would be too painful," Andolfatto said.
[04:32.96]Claudia Sahm is another
[04:35.32]former Federal Reserve economist.
[04:38.04]She added that "people are angry"
[04:40.92]because they cannot afford the cost increases.
[04:45.08]"Can you afford it?" she asked.
[04:47.44]"Not everybody can say yes to that question.
[04:50.68]But over time, more and more people
[04:54.48]will be able to say yes."
[04:56.96]I'm Dan Friedell. 更多听力请访问21VOA.COM
END OF TRACK. "END OF TRACK." The two men bowed. "Whoever was that person you were talking to?" she enquired, as soon as they stood together. The took of triumph faded from her eyes, she had grown worn and weary. The roses were wilting on the walls, the lights were mostly down now. Hetty, looking in to see if anything was wanted, found herself driven away almost fiercely. I only saw Master Jervie once when he called at tea time, The year 1747 was opened by measures of restriction. The House of Lords, offended at the publication of the proceedings of the trial of Lord Lovat, summoned the parties to their bar, committed them to prison, and refused to liberate them till they had pledged themselves not to repeat the offence, and had paid very heavy fees. The consequence of this was that the transactions of the Peers were almost entirely suppressed for nearly thirty years from this time, and we draw our knowledge of them chiefly from notes taken by Horace Walpole and Lord Chancellor Hardwicke. What is still more remarkable, the reports of the House of Commons, being taken by stealth, and on the merest sufferance, are of the most meagre kind, sometimes altogether wanting, and the speeches are given uniformly under fictitious names; for to have attributed to Pitt or Pelham their[112] speeches by name would have brought down on the printers the summary vengeance of the House. Many of the members complained bitterly of this breach of the privileges of Parliament, and of "being put into print by low fellows"; but Pelham had the sense to tolerate them, saying, "Let them alone; they make better speeches for us than we can make for ourselves." Altogether, the House of Commons exhibited the most deplorable aspect that can be conceived. The Ministry had pursued Walpole's system of buying up opponents by place, or pension, or secret service money, till there was no life left in the House. Ministers passed their measures without troubling themselves to say much in their behalf; and the opposition dwindled to Sir John Hinde Cotton, now dismissed from office, and a feeble remnant of Jacobites raised but miserable resistance. In vain the Prince of Wales and the secret instigations of Bolingbroke and Doddington stimulated the spirit of discontent; both Houses had degenerated into most silent and insignificant arenas of very commonplace business. "It certainly will be. Miss Widgeon," answered Maria, with strictly "company manners." "One who has never had a brother exposed to the constant dangers of army life can hardly understand how glad we all feel to have Si snatched from the very jaws of death and brung back to us." "Just plug at 'em as you would at a crow, and then go on your way whistlin'?" persisted Harry. "Hurroo!" echoed Hennessey; "that's the ticket." "Come forward, keeper," continued the baron, "and state how these arrows came into your hands!" "Yes." HoMEJULIA京香2018下载
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