The Misery Index

Years ago, Texas gadfly and commentator Jim Hightower started agitating for a "Doug Jones Index" to counter the "Dow Jones Index." He insisted that checking the pulse of a couple dozen blue-chip corporations had nothing do with how ordinary guys on Main Street like Doug were actually thriving or suffering economically.

We still don't have a Doug Jones Index, but Huffington Post has developed the next best thing: a realistic Misery Index.

The Huffington Post has developed a new feature that aims to provide a more accurate gauge of what is happening in the lives of millions of Americans as a result of the ongoing economic hard times.

We're calling it the Real Misery Index.

The original Misery Index is a formula created by economist Arthur Okun that adds the current unemployment rate to the yearly increase in the consumer price index (a measure of inflation). It's an easily digestible number that the media loves to use to give a snapshot of how well or poorly the economy is doing.

Unfortunately, it's not a very useful statistic.

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So, after consulting with experts who study economic trends, and receiving suggestions from many of our readers, we have created the Real Misery Index. It combines a more accurate unemployment statistic (the U6 formulation), with the inflation rate for three essentials (food and beverages, gas, medical costs), and year-over-year percent increases in credit card delinquencies, housing prices, food stamp participation, and home equity loan deficiencies.

Read the whole thing.