THANKS, COVID!:

Public discontent with America's pandemic-battered economy obscures the good news: Even after inflation, most of the country has been coming out ahead.

Red-hot demand for labor means lower-income workers can command wage increases that outpace rising prices. So can middle-income workers who switch jobs.

Relief checks approved by lawmakers of both parties and sent out by Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden have given the majority of households a cushion. Those higher up the income scale have seen handsome increases in the values of their homes and investment assets.

Even those who fault Biden's policies for exacerbating inflation risks acknowledge that, right now, the pandemic economy continues to offer large, underappreciated rewards.

"For most people," concludes Michael Strain, who directs economic policy studies at the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute, "the current economic situation is good."

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