Thread: Consumer confidence craters in June

Not a game changer itself. But there are a lot of potential game changers out there. I think consumers have decided that the odds have changed.

I don't know, I think people just kind of jumped the gun. I talk to a lot of poeple. (I am a bit of a yapper). Most people I have talked to believe things are better today than they were a year ago. Nobody believes that our economy has recovered, but that things are trending in the right direction. This will take some time.



The stock market kind of jumped the gun, giving a bit of a false illusion to those that follow it and I think that Obama had alluded to the economy being on a better track than it really was. I don't think this was intentional, I think people kinda took the ball and ran with it.



Bottom line, for me, is that I am doing good. Most of the people I am familiar with are doing better or at least as good as a year ago. Prospects appear to be better. I think good things are happening and am not nearly as pessimistc about the future as I was.



I still will work to becoming debt free and not having to worry about banks or credit ever again. I will not walk away from this lesson as stupid as I was before it.

[quote name='metheron' date='29 June 2010 - 10:43 PM' timestamp='1277869416' post='162736']

I don't know, I think people just kind of jumped the gun. I talk to a lot of poeple. (I am a bit of a yapper). Most people I have talked to believe things are better today than they were a year ago. Nobody believes that our economy has recovered, but that things are trending in the right direction. This will take some time.



The stock market kind of jumped the gun, giving a bit of a false illusion to those that follow it and I think that Obama had alluded to the economy being on a better track than it really was. I don't think this was intentional, I think people kinda took the ball and ran with it.



Bottom line, for me, is that I am doing good. Most of the people I am familiar with are doing better or at least as good as a year ago. Prospects appear to be better. I think good things are happening and am not nearly as pessimistc about the future as I was.



I still will work to becoming debt free and not having to worry about banks or credit ever again. I will not walk away from this lesson as stupid as I was before it.

[/quote]



Gee, that's nice. Think of me and my family like one of those shrimpers in the Gulf. We've lost everything we have due to factors beyond our control. Things are not getting better. We have no money, and we're running out of food. There are no jobs for miles around in any direction. Every day there are more and more people in the unemployment line, and once that ends they move over to the welfare line. We're not much worried about learning lessons - we're thinking about what action we can take to help correct the immediate problem. We certainly won't be doing any more business with Citibank or B of A, but that means we need an alternative, and so far there isn't one. Which makes us very angry, because the same government fools who are lying through their teeth about the condition of the economy, are the very same people who caused it in the first place. These people are liars. What is this country coming to when you have to "trust" your elected officials? We need pitchforks and rifles, not more campaign ads paid for with corporate money. Our children aren't allowed to watch TV, because they don't know how to handle lies and liars yet. But they're learning, and that just makes us twice as angry because they're losing their innocence at a very young age, and there's no way to get it back. You are an optimist? I'm a realist. I'm swimming in reality. Or drowning in it, more likely.

Don't know but everyone even the neurotically optimistic seems to be getting bearish so I am expecting at least a headfake upturn in the near future.

[quote name='Lysander Spooner' date='30 June 2010 - 05:04 AM' timestamp='1277888657' post='162761']

Gee, that's nice. Think of me and my family like one of those shrimpers in the Gulf. We've lost everything we have due to factors beyond our control. Things are not getting better. We have no money, and we're running out of food. There are no jobs for miles around in any direction. Every day there are more and more people in the unemployment line, and once that ends they move over to the welfare line. We're not much worried about learning lessons - we're thinking about what action we can take to help correct the immediate problem. We certainly won't be doing any more business with Citibank or B of A, but that means we need an alternative, and so far there isn't one. Which makes us very angry, because the same government fools who are lying through their teeth about the condition of the economy, are the very same people who caused it in the first place. These people are liars. What is this country coming to when you have to "trust" your elected officials? We need pitchforks and rifles, not more campaign ads paid for with corporate money. Our children aren't allowed to watch TV, because they don't know how to handle lies and liars yet. But they're learning, and that just makes us twice as angry because they're losing their innocence at a very young age, and there's no way to get it back. You are an optimist? I'm a realist. I'm swimming in reality. Or drowning in it, more likely.

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I am very sorry to hear about what you are going through. My response was in line with the op talking about consumer confidence in regard to recovery from our economic downturn. I live in Michigan where for the first time in YEARS, yes YEARS we did not report the highest unemployment rate in the country in June. So I can definitely see where my perspective would be different than yours.



Optimist? Well thanks I guess, I have never been called that. I too am a realist. I don't believe the numbers or the hype, I believe what I see. And what I see today is much different than what you are seeing.

[quote name='michaelr' date='30 June 2010 - 09:37 AM' timestamp='1277905042' post='162774']

Ask these idiots what happens when the US has a 100% debt to GDP ratio, see if they can answer that, if not, tell them their opinion means nothing.

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I read a book a while back that sais so what does a bankruptcy mean when everybody has one? Does it mean a little less in that instance?



No doubt if/when we reach 100% that will be bad, but comparitevely speaking it will not be much worse than just prior to the downturn.



Those numbers don't scare me. What WILL scare me is if we don't start turning around deficit spending and reducing debt.

[quote name='michaelr' date='30 June 2010 - 09:38 AM' timestamp='1277905135' post='162775']

Hey Meth, the government says were back at square one, again that is a lie, were back at square one with lots of negitive baggage, so square one right now would look sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeet.

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We never got to step 2 Mike. Not yet. But we are headed there. Why do you keep listening to the government? Get out man, talk to people. Talk to business owners. I know you spend a lot of time on the web MIke, but they all have their angles. They are all trying to suck you in. Go out and talk to real people. See if they are all crying in their soup like your links would ahve you believe.