[UncoveringTruths]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '&')quot;The improvement in consumers' mood suggests that business activity and labor market activity will continue to pick up over the next several months," Lynn Franco, director of the Conference Board's consumer research center, said in a statement. "With consumers in better spirits, and job concerns remaining relatively steady, there is little reason to expect a dramatic shift in consumers' spending."

[turmoil]

no one ever asks ME if I think "hard to get" jobs are not as hard to get.

Who are these people? Has anyone here ever been asked that question?!

[Eli]

UC

Yeah consumer confidence is up and will stay up right up until things head south. As long as people are buying things oil consumption is going to continue to grow.

Wall Street lives and dies buy the numbers and consumer confidence is a big one. If the News came out and said that there is an asteroid that is going to hit the earth in 6mo. the stooges on wall street couldn't care less as long as consumer confidence is up.

As POilers we are a bunch of negative Nellies in there eyes. We are a minority right now because pump prices have not risen that much even with 60 dollar a barrel oil. But as soon as Joe consumer finds out that he has to pay 3.00 for gas and his grocery bill is going up then things turn south in a hurry.

Wall Street does not care about the future in some ways, they just care about the numbers today.

The facts is this oil is at 60 because of speculation and the tight supply. If the numbers come out tomorrow that say supply is fine then look for some of the speculators to jump ship and the price will drop down to 55. If the numbers show supply is down again look for a jump the other direction.

But if any geopolitical event happens any where that has to do with oil then all bets are off. Everyone will be screaming that we do not have enough oil.

[strider3700]

Well I've never been asked but after hanging out with friends over the weekend I see signs of confidence everywhere. for once we're all working in good jobs, we all now have houses and everyone is getting married or close to it.

The issue is I know that there is a big old brick wall we're flying towards and most others don't notice or assume that it won't hurt that much when we do hit it.

Confidence may be high, but it's misplaced is my opinion

[EnemyCombatant]

This is difficult to believe. I usually trusts polls and government data. But sometimes they just take it too far.

[UncoveringTruths]

It just doesn't add up we had oil price records all last week and yesterday. Then they come up with this. Maybe they grabbed last years report and got them mixed up accidentally on purpose.

[Eli]

No I bet the numbers are right your average person has know idea whats going on. Life is good right now in the US.

Remember too that before the great crash consumer confidence was through the roof people and people were still buying and selling stocks the day before the crash. People were still borrowing money to buy cars and houses. Actually credit lending was rather new at that stage in the game and contributed to the crash.

Actually it took a year or more for the great depression to really sink in.

I think the term crash is the best analogy to our current situation.

Think of it like this we are in a car with a bunch of drunks. We are in the back seat and finally realized that we are on road to no where and the bridge up ahead is out.

The guy driving is blasted out of his mind and refuses to listen. The driver are all the bankers and wall street types. The driver is also an angry drunk and the more we tell him the bridge is out the more pissed off he gets and the more he steps on the gas.

The front passenger is the public, they are drunk too and they are just out to party and are along for the ride, they do not care where they are headed. They think the driver is smart and knows where he is going so they are happy to just sit and be mellow.

We know where the road is heading and recognize the curve and know that the bridge just around the corner is out.

The driver suspects we might be right but can't bring himself to admit. HE knows he is driving too fast now to stop even if he wanted too.

Pretty soon though it will be obvious too everyone in the car that there is no bridge. When that happens the front seat passenger is going to freak out and then the driver will get a steely glint in his eyes and say "I think can jump it."

We will all be in the back seat saying like we always were that "we are so screwed."

[NeoPeasant]

Confidence hits three-year high

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Consumer confidence jumped to the highest level in three years in June, coming in above most economists' forecasts, according to a report from a business research group Tuesday.

Everything's fine. The future will be just like the past, only bigger and better.

No wonder no one listens.

[thor]

The impact of $50 oil and beyond has yet to ripple through the (world) economy. I expect a lag between higher oil prices and consumer confidence, so if oil remains about $60 we'll see a decline in consumer confidence later this year. Just wait and see.

[MicroHydro]

Excellent. The complacency of the sheeple will give me more time to plan for the worst.

[MD]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MicroHydro', 'E')xcellent. The complacency of the sheeple will give me more time to plan for the worst.

[venky]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MicroHydro', 'E')xcellent. The complacency of the sheeple will give me more time to plan for the worst.

[Doly]

I always saw the reactions of the people as part of the things to worry about. In the 70s there were riots and most young people thought it was cool to be absolutely obnoxious. That's the very least that could happen with peak oil.

[Waterthrush]

The Washington Post has a survey that shows a slight fall in consumer confidence. Everyone I know is not very confident ... though it is health care, not gasoline, that is scaring them. Premiums for health insurance are seeing steep increases, as are prescriptions. This seems more visible to family types than gasoline.

[Sys1]

"Consumer confidence jumped to the highest level in three years in June"

I'm sure that "confidence" doesn't mean people are confident. It just means people are buying more.
Example : Somebody attacked you in the street. You now afraid of beeing attacked again. You decide to buy a big dog, a gun, and to install an armored door at your home. Then you are very stressed, thinking again about your agression. So you decide to see a shrink and buy medicaments to stay ok. You also start eating more to ease your growing fear about people.
This is it. You are a confident consumer. You are not a confident human beeing or citizen.
Nevermind.
In USA, people are consumers, not citizens.

[Ludi]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Waterthrush', 'T')he Washington Post has a survey that shows a slight fall in consumer confidence. Everyone I know is not very confident ... though it is health care, not gasoline, that is scaring them. Premiums for health insurance are seeing steep increases, as are prescriptions. This seems more visible to family types than gasoline.

[I_Like_Plants]

That is a good point, it means people are buying more, not whether or not they're worried or happy etc.

Under capitalism, people are just economic units that consume or don't consume, consuming less is seen as a sign of sickness, er, I mean, unproductivity.

[TOKYO-EXPAT]

"Consumer confidence continued its downward slide this week as the full economic impact of Hurricane Katrina becomes increasingly clear, according to the latest release of the Washington Post-ABC News Consumer Comfort survey.

Most strikingly, 60 percent of Americans said the U.S. economy is getting worse, with one in 10 saying it is getting better and three in 10 seeing no change. This marks a 19-percentage point increase since mid-August in the proportion of people that said the nation's economy is worsening, the most dramatic one-month jump in pessimism in 24 years."

But dont worry, this is only temporary Move along folks nothing to see here.
Just keep buying your SUVs and going to Walmart for your cheap chinese goods. It will all be fine now.. just ask Avory Lovins.

[Heineken]

The whole question is whether this poll result is a temporary, hurricane-related anomaly or the start of something big. I know what I'm hoping for.

[rogerhb]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Heineken', 'I') know what I'm hoping for.