RAINBOWS? UNICORNS?
Some rare good news this week on the economic front: Consumer comfort – which a month ago was sucking wind – has recorded some nice gains over the last month.
Bloomberg’s Consumer Comfort Index (CCI) – which measures consumer comfort on a scale of zero to 100 – currently stands at 45.2. That’s up a full five points from last month, and while this week’s growth has cooled a bit the index is just 2.7 points off of its post-recession high – achieved in early April of this year.
Here’s a look at the trend line …
And here are its three subindices (which measure consumers’ views on their personal finances, the national economy, and the current buying climate) …
Is this uptick sustainable? We sure hope so … although there are a host of national and global metrics out there indicating it isn’t.
As much as we’d like to be bearish on the future of the U.S. economy (i.e. believe all the “rainbows and unicorns” propaganda), the truth is massive underemployment, stagnant wages and major global economic headwinds leave little room for optimism.
Still, we welcome these numbers … even if they didn’t translate into strong retail sales last month.
28 comments
with so many families having to fork out large amounts of money for their children’s schooling, one would expect august to be a bad month for consumer comfort.
Jan. 20, 2017 President Trump kicks Obummer out of Washington and out of our lives. Finally. Do we still get to blame him for everything or is it still going to be Bush’s fault ???
Might want to check around this time next year as I pull the knife out of the back of the GOP, put it in a nice glass case, and present it to Hillary as a housewarming gift for the White House.
You go Captain Chaos.
You had help, Donald. Don’t take all the credit. Now, I must suspend my campaign to go sell another one of my pointless books filled mostly with plagurized material provided by ghost-writers to another group of gullible republican voters. I hope meeting a black man in person doesn’t frighten them too much. Cha-Ching!!!! Pretending to run president is fun and lucrative!
It ain’t looking good. Getting in bed with the wack-a-doodles back in the 80’s was a big mistake. Even the stablishment knows this…
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/reince-priebus-2016-cooked-gop
There is NOTHING that would surprise me this election cycle. Sad.
“Do we still get to blame him for everything or is it still going to be Bush’s fault ???”
Depends which war you are talking about . . .
The way these jerks are on here he has to have caused the war of 1812. LOL
That’s funny. Even the head of your own party knows it’s over if the GOP doesn’t win in 2016.
I don’t think they’ll be able to cheat their way in this time.
http://www.salon.com/2015/10/16/rnc_chair_admits_the_gop_is_cooked_as_a_party_if_they_lose_the_white_house/
I think you mean “bullish” in the 2nd to last paragraph, bro.
Picky, picky, picky. Will is not an actual economist, he just plays one on a blog.
“Will is not an actual economist . . .”
LOL Will is not a lot of things!
??
Sorry, only negative news is embellished.
“I think you mean “bullish” in the 2nd to last paragraph, bro.”
Lions and Tigers and Bulls, oh my!
Freudian slip. Pessimism porn is addictive.
I keeeeeeeedddddd!
Is this uptick sustainable? Is that a joke?
Today, weekly unemployment claims and 4 week averages dropped to lowest level since 1973, when the population was 2/3 of current population. Also continuing recipients of unemployment benefits has dropped to the lowest level since 2000.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-15/jobless-claims-in-u-s-decrease-to-match-lowest-level-since-1973
In other words Thumper – you’re pointing out the economy is doing pretty well, and consumers are likely to increase their spending? Oh no – what will Tango do now?
Great USA Today article today about how Obamacare has failed.Only 50% of expected enrollment .Why? People can’t afford it.
Fine is $696.00 per individual this year.
You mean this?
“The total number of people who bought plans and paid premiums is expected to be about 10 million by the end of next year, up only about 1 million from this year. That’s far lower than Congressional Budget Office estimates that topped 20 million. HHS has found that far fewer companies are planning to drop coverage than originally expected, and that fewer employees are planning to shift to buy insurance on the exchanges.”
So, didn’t you, Flip, predict everyone would be dropped by their employer? I guess because you were wrong, less people will need to sign up on the exchange. Seems more like the real fail here is – on you!!!
Good point, GT/flip. If your slack ass can get taxpayer provided healthcare, why can’t every single citizen get it too. Single-payer is tge to go.
Things are great.40 million on Food Stamps and 94 million adults not working.Worthless insurance with high deductibles.No COLA for SS or SSD and Medicare payments going up 50%.
If gas prices weren’t so low there would be riots in the street-and grocery prices are eating up any savings at the pumps.
socialists love Thumper”
Idiots hate facts.
Hey, wasn’t the COLA issue proposed to Congress for a fix, and they failed to take any action? Another great Fail by the Chaos Party.
I got a gallon of milk at an upscale grocery chain last night for $3.23. A lot lower then a few years ago or say in 2008 when it was $4.29. Awesome!!!! Drink milk baby, it does a body good.
I give all the credit for low unemployment to crony capitalist, the establishment, and the 1%.