Households glum as misery index hits 1983 levels 

Today’s economy isn’t as depressing as that of the 1930s, but it is as bad as 1983. The Misery Index, which adds the unemployment rate and level of inflation, rose for the fourth-straight in May to 12.7 and is now at the highest level in 28 years. Economist Arthur Okun launched the index in the ’70s in an attempt to gauge economic hardship.