(AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)By Becky Yerak |
Consumer confidence slipped in March after gaining ground in January and
February, and married couples with children at home became
significantly more pessimistic, according to Discover Financial’s U.S.
Spending Monitor for March.
Discover’s monitor, which polls 8,200 consumers about their confidence
levels and spending plans, fell 1.5 points in March to 85, based out of
100.
Overall, 49 percent of consumers felt economic conditions in general were worsening in March, 3 points worse than February.
And the number of consumers who felt their own finances were getting worse climbed 1.5 points.
The drop in confidence was most marked among families. Married couples with children at home showed a 6 point rise in the number who felt gloomier about the economy, and a 3 point increase in the number who felt their own financial houses were getting shakier.
To read the entire report, click here.
Regardless of what the pundits and the Washington jokesters report, this recession is getting worse. People who have jobs are terrified they will lose them. People who don’t have jobs can’t find one. So they all stop spending freely.
The government pretends it can help, but we all know it can’t. The government cannot create millions of jobs, period, no matter how much money they throw at it. Temporary construction jobs don’t bolster the job market. Who would derive security from landing a job you know will go away in 9 months or a year?
Yes, it’s as simple as that.
@Sally Ride: What data do you have to back up the claim of it getting worse? The change in jobs this month is positive, the trend in job creation is drastically upwards over the past year, companies are posting profits, the stock market has mostly rebounded…all the data I look at points to a slow, steady, yet strong recovery. Some people can’t see beyond their pocketbook.
One reason we parents with children are more pessimistic is all the debt the government is laying on that our children or grandchildren will have to someone manage. They need to stop borrowing to put a bandaid on the situation and start paying down the debt.
@ Amy 12:56 pm
If our government quit spending most of our money on death and destruction (aka “war”), there would be enough money to send your college for free and give every US citizen gold-plated health care for life.
@ Amy 12:56 pm very well said
The true unemployment rate is far higher than 10% when you factor in those who have stopped looking for worked, those who have never been able to find work, owners of businesses that have failed, and recent college, trade, and professional school graduates who cannot find jobs.
Just wait until the student loan crisis blows up.
How can anyone be blind to all of this?
Women on public assistance have 3 times as many children as women who aren’t on public assistance. We must make it easier for working-class people to have children, and make it less easy for unemployed, illiterate, unmarried teenagers.