The Fast Food Index is Looking Bleak

Photo by Jurij Kenda

For the last several years I have relied on real (inflation-adjusted) spending at fast food restaurants as a useful gauge of consumer sentiment. I began this during the pandemic recovery when the media were constantly telling us that people were struggling to make ends meet.

While this is always true in a country with a weak social safety net and extreme income inequality, the question any serious person asks is whether it’s getting worse or better. I kept pointing to the data showing that...