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Consumer Comfort Index And State Of The Economy Almost Record Lows
Bloomberg's consumer comfort index once again confirms what so many know, despite the day to day 3-4% swings in equity markets, that broad-based sentiment is desperately weak. Retail metrics also confirmed retail sales starting to disappoint - as perhaps burning through savings is starting to reach its tipping point - and so perhaps all those charts we have been so vociferous about pointing to the disconnect between spending/growth and sentiment will converge sooner than many suspect. Specifically the State of the Economy index is only fractionally above its record lows from Feb09 - about as bad as it can get!!
Chart: Bloomberg
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one of the few places we'll see any mention of this. thank you ZH.
Lets buy more iCrap
NO ONE MENTION IT BECAUSE IT DOES NOT MATTER!!
CONSUMERS ARE WORRIED BUT THEY KEEP BUYING STUFF!!!
I'm a consumer and am not worried. I buy necessities and very little else.
I suppose if the consumers preferred to be 'unworried' they would stop buying crap?
Obviously, they prefer to buy crap so they can continue to be worried.
Let them eat cake as long as the ATMs continue to spit out dollars...
Isn't "livestock" a synonym for "consumer?"
"Isn't "livestock" a synonym for "consumer?"
...............
I don't know but when I was a kid we were called 'citizens'... and we didn't need 24/7 commercials to tell us what we needed.
Psst.... Throw away the tv and the commercials go with it. Or better, sell it and buy a noose.
what's with the attempted teabagging ... comment removed ... from now on making damn sure there isn't a prior pair of descending testicles posted ...
It’s telling that one of the United States most prosperous businesses doesn’t sell anything anyone needs.
Ah, excellent point RNeville... I don't own an Ipad, Epad, Iphone, Xbox, etc... but someone told me they are edible.
IComfortGizmos
We may all be living in a van down by the river, but at least I can still run these Apps.
The record low comfort index correlates with the record high number of people receiving EBT (food stamp) cards, with 46 million people (15% of the US population), up 8.4% from last year, up 1.2% in one month. How can you have 2.5% GDP growth in the economy and a jump in people receiving food stamps?? The food stamp statistics are also ignored by the media. All they want to talk about is something that may have happened 15 years ago to Cain. America's number one growth business is issuing EBT cards!!!! JPM handles that for Uncle Sam, thank you.
It is obvious that you do not pay enough attention to the news. Kim Kardashian is the news; nothing else. I feel like I know her and her ex so well... The sale of tissues alone from her tragedy should raise the GDP a good .5%
The Cain controversy helps the Ron Paul campaign. I hope they keep beating that horse. I swear all this Herman Cain euphoria is a gigantic bubble that will burst (just hopefully it holds out long enough to subtract votes away from Perry & Romney to further devide the party).
Clearly the economy is doing poorly so instead of saving for hard times we must go out and spend so we can feel better about ourselves.
Spend, and spend NOW! On food, guns, ammo, etc.
As far as that goes I'm well positioned. Now I'm swapping paper for silver and gold.
"swapping"
Brilliant! I am partial to "convert," but it's all good. Apart from necessities, fewer and fewer are "buying" anything. They're "swapping," "converting," and "storing" for that which shall come.
They are buying before the currency is completely worthless. Gainesville Coin is running out of physical to sell somedays.
How is this so with the miraculos recovery in unemployment claims? Under 400K, lol!!!
...to be revised upward soon.
Even if not revised upwards, it's a bad number. It's just been printed so many times that folks have gotten accustomed to it. Kinda like $3.60 gasoline.
Death by 1,000 paper (fiat) cuts.
Foundations of a bullmarket.
Soon.
We promise.
Heading to Target, then Costco and putting it all on my VISA.
Majority of this drop in comfort is Corzine and it's probably going lower as I can't imagine a cell is too comfy.
and yet bloomberg continues to campaign for obama and more pain
It's called fascism
"as perhaps burning through savings is starting to reach its tipping point"
BWAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAHAHAHAHA.........what savings?
One problem tapped-out consumers have is access to credit. Until the flow of consumer credit returns to normal this data series will remain depressed. Unfortunately the $800 Billion TARP and $14 Trillion of Fed easing never trickled down to mainstreet.
right on depression - i get cc offers daily with a mediocre credit score - racked up 5 new cards in just the past 6 mos to get reward bonuses and points
.
At least the people had the money in the Weimar, pre-cursor to the Nazis....gee makes you wonder what we'll get huh? LOL
SPY should be at 900, not 1250.
Just shows you how strong the tape is.
SPG still sitting at record highs as shopping malls continue to be the asset class of choice during the worst recession in decades.
No, it shows how Bernank is able to use mountains of free money to create illusions in a dead-empty market.
Big deal.
Worst recession in decades is ahead of us. Let's see how the hopium does then...
All that's happening is predictable, as there are 7 stages that any major economy goes through. Those who know how it works profit & massive wealth is transferred to them. You can see what one millionaire has to say about the 7 stages countries go through & how you can profit like the ultra-rich during these tough times.
His free video
"How To Create Incredible Wealth in Today's Economic Crisis"
is at:
http://theelevationgroup.net/presentation/register.php?a_aid=160667&a_bi...
Hope this info helps everyone as much as it has me.
Dr. Nancy
Stop the shilling. Most of us are already millionaires and will soon be billionaires.
Well, the 99% is down at Zuccotti Park, pissing everyone off who lives and works nearby. They are doing nothing but wasting time, but the media love it! Why don't they march on Washington, confront the idiot policymakers who they put into office? Our plutocracy won't last long if the Food Stamps aren't also joined by jobs. Obama is all talk, talk, talk. Change? Ha! I'm moving to Canada...
Looks like we are not far enough along on our fence. Damn!
Yep, these geniuses are blocks away from wall street having absolutely no effect on the people they allegedly want to bring down instead they are destroying the small businesses in the area and harassing the residents. If they truly wanted to rage against the machine they would be in DC or at least City Hall. But ending the government/corporate alliance is the last thing they want, they just want a piece of the pie for themselves.
In reponse to Snidley Whipsnae: I don't know but when I was a kid we were called 'citizens'... and we didn't need 24/7 commercials to tell us what we needed.
Concentrated mass media, the other WMD.
Citizens? Ha! We are all simply "consumers" (read sheep/lemmings that do what the TV tells us). Our collective human thought process has been destroyed by the continued media zombification of ourselves and our children. Most people have neither the time, energy, or interest in the political process, but take away their MP3s, their videos, or their TV/Movie/Tivo/Facebook/YouTube/iPhone/Android etc. etc. etc. and they are gobsmacked and angry. And even then, they'll rack up the debt to keep themselves deep in whatever AAPL or other hipness shows up on MTV/Cable. Aaaarrrrrggggghhhhhh. Am I upset? Naaaah, not much! It's just the state of the nation and its decline, that's all...
The Bernankes: Just keep living your life.....the DOW is up guys! Lindsay Lohan got her setence commuted and she's posing nude in Playboy for 1 million! Life is GOOD!!!111
I saw that on youtube. He basically told the American consumer to go straight to hell, but don't forget to pay your debt on the way down. No consumers needed in his printed money equity markets.
Confidence today best not to be measured against confidence charts that contain date thru 20 years ago. Perception is the law of trends and the current view is weak. Since the record low was only 3 years past, maybe this is the new norm? Hey, they're depressed in Buffalo, NY and don't even know it thanks to lake effect snow but in Cali? Life's a beach.
New Amerikan Comfort = Food stockpile...check; ammo...check; firewood...check..etc.