Consumer Confidence Posts Biggest Jump Since 2003

[Purveyor]

Source: Reuters

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. consumer confidence soared in May to its highest level in eight months as severe strains in the labor market showed some signs of easing, though Americans' mood remained depressed by historical standards.

KEY POINTS:

* The Conference Board, an industry group, said its index of consumer attitudes jumped to 54.9 in May from a revised 40.8 in April, the biggest one-month jump since April 2003.

* The consensus forecast was for the index to rise to 42. Fewer Americans said jobs were "hard to get," the survey found, with that measure slipping to 44.7 percent from 46.6 percent. Those saying jobs were plentiful climbed to a still meager 5.7 percent, but that was still higher than March's 4.9 percent.

* "Consumers are considerably less pessimistic than they were earlier this year," said Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board's Consumer Research Center.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-Economy/idUSTRE54P3DV20090526

[kestrel91316]

1. Not surprising at all.

[wisteria]

9. And, why is that? n/t

[kestrel91316]

15. My business has jumped since the inauguration (with the deplorable exception of March,

which was frighteningly slow). We are making our way up out of the pit.

[RamboLiberal]

24. HVAC wholesale business I work for was slow for first 4 months

but this month we're ahead of last year by 500k. I'm hoping we can be even or better by end of year.

[onehandle]

2. We're spending money again. I'm eyeing a new MacBook Pro.

When things feel better, they often get better.

Let's hope the trend continues.

[Pirate Smile]

4. I think companies had frozen what they were doing for a while and have now decided to move ahead.

My husband's business has picked up some big new projects in the past month and I've had two new projects come up within the past month for what I do - and it had been dead since last fall.

[TheWatcher]

17. Artificial Stock Bubbles and Well-Crafted Propaganda will not make the Economy Recover

No matter how it makes us all "feel."

The Public would be wise to wake up to that fact, but then again, maybe that's the point.

We are far too interested and invested in "feeling good", and "feeling better" than facing reality.

TPTB know this, and that's why The Propaganda Blitz has worked like a charm.

And why this post will likely be greeted with name-calling, brow-beating, etc, etc.

It seems most Americans want nothing to do with Reality itself.

They want their PERCEPTION of Reality managed so they can pretend it's all OK.

[DemReadingDU]

20. Reality will be here soon when

the effects of Chrysler and GM factories and dealers are shut down laying off thousands, millions(?). Then how does Obama and team spin that?

[TheWatcher]

22. Pretty Simple Actually.

"It Can't get Any Worse Than This"

"The Worst is Behind Us."

"We Have A Plan...."

"We Have A Program...."

"Workers Will Be Re-Trained...."

"(Insert Fed Or Treasury Mouthpiece Here) Believes, Is Confident That, Forecasts Expectations That Will...."

They will come up with something. They have for the past three months, and The Public just keeps buying it, because they WANT to.

And The Economy will continue to get worse, and the Propaganda and Spin will continue.

Perhaps the better Question would be:

At What Point Do We The People Stand Up And Say "ENOUGH"?

[DJ13]

3. Im calling bullsh!t

Theres nothing in the economy to instill confidence in consumers.

How often have people here been commenting how empty freeways, highways, and stores have been across the country in recent weeks?

The past administration was a master in releasing false data that was quietly revised lower to reflect reality weeks later, and I wouldnt be surprised if the present administration wasnt using the same method to try and boost confidence in attempting to fix the economy.

Unfortunately, the Obama administration has bought into the Summers/Geithner lie that repairing the stock market improves the real economy, and this tactic would be an integral part of that.

[Speck Tater]

5. I agree. This is delusional euphoria with no grounding in reality. nt

[wisteria]

10. I tend to agree with you. These rosy tidbits are very misleading. n/t

[TheWatcher]

18. Your Post is right on target except for ONE THING

"Unfortunately, the Obama administration has bought into the Summers/Geithner lie that repairing the stock market improves the real economy, and this tactic would be an integral part of that."

It should read:

"Unfortunately, the Obama administration has bought into the Summers/Geithner lie that artificially manipulating and rigging the stock market improves the real economy, and this tactic would be an integral part of that."

[tom_paine]

6. This can mean only one thing: The Busho-Corporate M$M Psyop is WORKING.

They pretty much always work, I have noticed...

[Mnemosyne]

7. Liars. MIne is worse every day, and I'm not alone. n/t

[wisteria]

8. A positive spin on slightly improving economy. Too many people are still out of work and

can not find a job. People are still losing their homes and most domestic indexes are down.
As one of the unemployed, I can tell you I resent these rosey overviews, when the job opportunities in this country improve then I will rejoice.

[Badgerman]

11. Humans do not evolve better brains overnight...stupid is tenacious.

[tomreedtoon]

12. Counter viewpoint: the economy is psychology.

The truth is that economics is not a science. It is not even paganism. It is a primitive belief.

The businesses heard "Much bad mojo! Economy crashing! Fire people! Cut costs! Ungawa!" And they did. They did, in a pack much like lemmings. (I lost my job because of that fear - and the loss of car advertising at the TV station where I used to work.)

Now they are hearing "Mojo turning good! Economy stabilizing! Start hiring people back! Put on happy carved mask! Sing show tunes! Ungawa!" I have noticed a slight upturn in job offerings, and I am confident that I'll nail some kind of job before I run into trouble. And if I do...I'll start delivering pizzas.

I know a lot of the Marxists, Socialists and Communists here on DU want the economy to crash, because you want to bring back the vibrant economy of the USSR, and you think you'll be the commissars on top. (Didn't learn anything about those purges, did you, guys?) And the right-wing Freepers want the economy to crash to bring back the reign of Maximum Leader Cheney.

Me, I'm tired of fear, whether it blows left or right. I'm going to do real things. A plague on both your houses.

[sendero]

19. You are full of it..

... and what is going on is SO beyond your ken that there is little hope for you.

NOBODY WANTS THE ECONOMY TO CRASH, WE WANT THE GOV'T TO STOP TRYING TO REINFLATE THE BUBBLE OVER AND OVER AGAIN SETTING US UP FOR AN EVEN WORSE EVENTUAL OUTCOME.

[tomreedtoon]

23. Of course people want the economy to fail.

Left and right have decided to make things as anarchic as possible, to prove that THEIR systems work and whatever the heck we have now is wrong. They want to prove they're right, and the best way to do that is over the rubble of a destroyed America.

It doesn't matter to ideologues who gets killed, as long as they can prove they're right. And if you don't think socialists and the further-left people aren't egotistical ideologues, you haven't heard them much.

[TheWatcher]

25. Save your breath.

Read his reply.

He is a zombie who simply doesn't listen.

It's almost like they have pre-packaged, pre-thought out responses to every argument, every bit of reality you can rationally try to bring their way.

They CAN'T refute or reason away anything you say, so they just revert to whatever spin they are used to believing in.

Bottom line, their zombie line of reasoning is "If you don't buy into the hope, rhetoric, and Propaganda of "The Recovery", which there is NO tangible basis of reality for, you must be a communist, socialist, whatever who WANTS the economy to fail.

People like that are suffering from a mental illness you can't solve or penetrate.

You haven't seen ANYTHING yet.

Wait until the Auto Bankruptcies start to weigh on things, and it becomes SO obvious this is all full of shit and lies that you'd have to be INSANE to keep believing lie, and you will be AMAZED and FRIGHTENED at what the zombies will come up with to keep the faith.

This is going to get ugly.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

13. "Home prices fall at record pace in first quarter"

Home prices fall at record pace in first quarter

Source: MSNBC

NEW YORK - Home prices fell at the fastest annual rate ever in the first quarter, but the pace of month-to-month declines continues to slow, a closely watched housing index showed Tuesday.

The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller National Home Price index reported home prices tumbled by 19.1 percent in the first quarter, the most in its 21-year history.

Home prices have fallen 32.2 percent since peaking in the second quarter of 2006 and are at levels not seen since the end of 2002.

The 20-city index fell by 18.7 percent in March from the year before and the 10-city index lost 18.6 percent. Those declines were a bit better than February's and marked the second straight month the indexes didn't post record drops.

Still, there are no signs home prices have hit bottom.

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30940713 /

[DollyM]

14. I wonder if that was from the last of the tax refunds people were getting . . .

We had a momentary surge in hope when our tax return of $2000.00 came in and we had a month of actually being able to pay the bills on time. Now it is nearly June and we are running out of unemployment again, we still have not heard back from the food stamp application we filed a month ago and the job program we are trying to get our teenage son into is stalled because we cannot produce something that says we have Food Stamps! Our medical cards also end this month which really worries me as my husband is a diabetic and there is no way we can afford his medication and medical care without it. (Also applied for that a month ago and have heard nothing.) Everyone you talk to anymore is having a struggle, even the lady that took our son's application for the job program said her husband lost his job 9 months ago and the job she is doing is temporary. They have three kids at home and she is worried. I honeslty don't see our economy coming back at this point for many of us. We will simply be too far behind to ever catch up. I am very scared about the future at this point and so tired of living at poverty level. (So much for those Master's degrees that were supposed to guarantee us good jobs!)

[durablend]

16. I really don't see how...

* Food prices are still climbing sharply no matter what "reports" are claiming

* Gas prices are headed back to that $3 level (if not beyond)

* Where's all this money people are "going to spend" come from? Those jobs they don't have or those raises they're still not going to get (companies forego double-digit profits to pay more? HA!)

[skoalyman]

21. reminds me of

an ole country song the way uncle sham oops Sam tints the economic windows.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjxFGbToVFM

[ProgressIn2008]

26. This seemed so remote from my observations that I checked out "Conference Board"

Behold:

http://www.conference-board.org/aboutus/trustees.cfm

Trustees include: Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse, Campbell Soup (!), Aetna, Merck, Pricewaterhouse, Alcoa, and Corn Products International.

Well, heck. I'd trust 'em more than my own two eyes. Guess I better whip out my Master Card and get going.