We Surveyed 1,000 People About Their Budgets. The Picture Is Ugly.

By Lael Brainard and Rohit Chopra

Ms. Brainard leads the Kitchen Table Project. Mr. Chopra is the incoming secretary of California’s Business and Consumer Services Agency.

From a distance, the American economy might appear to be performing well. Growth is solid, unemployment remains near historic lows and stock markets have posted large gains over the last year.

But these numbers mask the reality that most Americans see. We dug into........

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