Consumer optimism reached a ten-year peak of 95.5 in the 1st quarter of 2015—its highest level since the 3rd quarter of 2004, according to the University of Michigan (U-M) Surveys of Consumers. CONT. University of Michigan Read more »
How Much Will It Cost? How Americans Use Prices in Health Care
As Americans shoulder more health care costs, this Public Agenda research suggests that many are hungry for more and better price information. However, some obstacles remain to increasing the number of Americans who compare prices before getting care. While insurance companies and vendors are developing tools to make out-of-pocket health […] Read more »
Economic Confidence Index Positive Again at +1
Gallup’s weekly Economic Confidence Index reached positive territory again, climbing to +1 for the week ending March 15. The index had been negative during the previous three weeks after it spent nearly two months in positive territory. CONT. Rebecca Riffkin, Gallup Read more »
American Class Perceptions Weather Economic Storm
The American middle-class may be battered, but it can’t be knocked down. Over the past 15 years, the U.S. economy has weathered the dot-com bubble and bust, the housing bubble and bust, the financial crisis and two recessions with shallow recoveries, yet the vast majority of Americans continue to identify […] Read more »
Belief in the Middle Class Unshaken by Economic Shifts
Neither the Great Recession, nor the sluggish recovery, nor a widening wealth gap has shaken many Americans’ belief that they are solidly middle class, a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll shows. Despite a rapidly shifting economy that’s largely hollowed out middle-class jobs and deepened inequality in the last generation, […] Read more »
Economic Confidence Still Negative, at -3
Gallup’s U.S. Economic Confidence Index registered -3 for the week ending March 8, the third consecutive week in negative territory after an eight-week run of positive weekly scores. The index is still significantly higher than it has been at most times since 2008. CONT. Justin McCarthy, Gallup Read more »