77.8 on expectations of 76.0. Highest since January 2008. Yup: the US "consumers" (of what? Patek Philippes? Cristal? 8 balls? Dorsia deserts?) polled by Reuters, have not had it better in 4 years. After all what is there not to be confident about: record number of people on disability, foodstamps, out of the labor force, market sliding, banks imploding, Europe about to fall apart, gas near record highs, home prices quadruple dipping, and the prospect of much, much higher taxes next year to boot. Whatever - just charge it.

