Cramer explains the discrepancy between the reality of the economy and consumer sentiment

CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Tuesday pointed out that there is a discrepancy between the economy’s performance and the general sense of pessimism that many Americans feel towards the economy.

“The market, which reflects the reality of the economy, is benefitting plenty of people, but not nearly enough to change the mood of the nation,” he said.

Cramer first attributed this pessimism to the chaos of this year’s presidential election. The “anger and ugliness in Washington” seeps into every aspect of life, Cramer said. Positives, he added, seem “like nothing more than an abstraction.”

Even though recent data shows that inflation has been cooling, and Wall Street is optimistic that rate cuts from the Federal Reserve seem to be on the horizon, Cramer said consumers don’t feel these changes. People really feel the weight of high prices at supermarkets, he said, even if wages are solid and jobs aren’t extremely hard to find.

“Grocery prices are the reality of the moment, not the default rates or the problems with commercial real estate or the stock market hitting new highs, which feel totally divorced from the day-to-day lives of Americans,” he said.