Brainard-Chopra Project: Why Strong GDP Still Feels Bad
Get the Finance newsletter
Daily finance — markets, central banks, M&A, the prints that move money. Free.
- Lael Brainard and Rohit Chopra are spearheading the "Kitchen Table Project" to quantify why Americans feel economically distressed even as GDP and unemployment indicators remain strong
- The project modeled a family of four at median income and concluded that rising wages and tax cuts have not been enough to offset higher costs for frequently purchased goods
- More than half of survey respondents identified beef costs as the biggest driver of grocery price stress, according to the project's survey work
- Brainard attributed elevated beef prices to a confluence of factors: drought-driven contraction of the U.S. cattle herd, concentration in the meatpacking industry squeezing ranchers, tariffs raising imported beef costs, and a new cattle parasite
- The project's findings could shape the Democratic policy agenda if the party wins control of Congress in November or the White House in 2028, and more specific policy responses are slated for the months ahead
Why it matters: The Kitchen Table Project gives Democrats a data-backed framework to convert vague "affordability" rhetoric into targeted policy proposals ahead of the November midterms and the 2028 presidential race. For consumers, the finding that over half name beef as their top grocery pain point pins the squeeze on specific supply-side drivers — drought, industry concentration, tariffs — that a named policy agenda could attempt to address.
Ask SkimNews
