… Perhaps the biggest psychological challenge of consumers today is wrestling with the hangover of high expectations. The double-bubble of the last decade, and the seeming-accessibility of housing-related wealth in particular, left many expecting great financial success. But now many – Affluents and non-Affluents alike – struggle with a future […] Read more »
Economic Confidence Falls to Lowest Since January
Gallup’s U.S. Economic Confidence Index averaged -27 for the week ending July 15, down four points from -23 each of the prior two weeks. This extends a gradual decline in confidence that has been underway since late May, when the index was at a four-year best of -16. [cont.] Lydia […] Read more »
Raising Taxes on Rich Seen as Good for Economy, Fairness
By two-to-one (44% to 22%), the public says that raising taxes on incomes above $250,00o would help the economy rather than hurt it, while 24% say this would not make a difference. Moreover, an identical percentage (44%) says a tax increase on higher incomes would make the tax system more […] Read more »
Pervasive Gloom About the World Economy
The economic mood is exceedingly glum all around the world. A median of just 27 percent think their national economy is doing well, according to a survey in 21 countries by the Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project. [cont.] Pew Read more »
Americans Prefer Obama’s Tax Cut Plan
Americans think it is more important to extend the Bush-era tax cuts for families earning less than $250,000 a year, as President Obama proposed on Monday, than extending them for all taxpayers, as advocated by congressional Republicans and presumptive GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, according to a new United Technologies/National […] Read more »
The Hollowing Out
… The issue of the disappearing middle is not new, but credible economists have added a more threatening twist to the argument: the possibility that a well-functioning, efficient modern market economy, driven by exponential growth in the rate of technological innovation, can simultaneously produce economic growth and eliminate millions of […] Read more »