The brain-fog that comes from the highly unusual demographics and environment of journalists is actually worse than @DKThomp describes here. Because there is an added layer: we work in an industry that's been in recession for more than a decade. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/11/why-big-city-dominance-problem-democrats/617161/

Journalists' perspective on the economy is shaped by that environment: Everything perpetually lean and getting worse, with a plausible story about the Big Tech companies being to blame. It leads to coverage that is cynical, pessimistic, and out of touch with the broad public.

The political facts on the ground about the economy through 2019 -- tight labor markets, good wage growth, and the best public satisfaction with the economy in 20 years -- were simply not perceptible to so many writers, in part because things sucked so much in our industry.

Journalists are, of course, especially sensitive to the economic concerns of people who went to expensive colleges (including state university flagships) and earn less than many of their peers -- because that describes so many journalists -- but it's not most of the public.