Nofsdad
Joined: 06 Jul 2003
Posts: 7090
Location: Central CA
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Posted: Sun Jan 08, 2006 4:09 pm Post subject: Consumer Confidence Sucks
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Consumer confidence takes surprise tumble
Consumer confidence took a big hit in early January, dragged down by
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Americans' worries about the future.
The RBC CASH Index, based on polling by Ipsos, showed that consumer confidence fell to 78.2 this month, the lowest level in three months and 8.5 percent below the December reading.
Consumers' attitudes had taken a sharp hit in September and October when confidence was jolted by the devastating Gulf Coast hurricanes and a resulting spike in energy costs that sent gasoline prices briefly above $3 per gallon. |
The failure of the government to actually investigate and/or do anything about obvious profiteering by the energy companies probably didn't help a whole lot either. It's hard to have confidence in any system that allows consumers to be gouged like that.
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| The big deterioration this month was unexpected, given that other readings on consumer confidence have been showing strength. Private economists said the new number could be signaling the slowdown they expect in overall economic activity in the latter part of 2006. |
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| ''I think the confidence number is picking up some concerns about the second half of the year,'' said Vince Boberski, chief economist for brokerage company RBC Dain Rauscher. |
All these pundits have to do is ask any ordinary working stiff why his or her confidence is down. You don't need a Wall Street guru to figure it out.
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| The January decline reflected a steep drop of 37.1 percent in consumers' expectations about the future and a sizable 9 percent fall in attitudes about labor market conditions. |
With a corporate sector fuelled by nothing more than rampant greed and a government in which the principals openly are only interested in getting their cut of the spoils, I don't see how anyone could pretend to be surprised by any of this.
It's going to be interesting to see how the coming investigations and/or indictments, on matters in which the Abramoff case is only the tip of the iceberg after all, shake out. It's fascinating, even if disgusting, to watch the spin docs whirl like tops trying to limit exposure only to what we already know.
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