USA Consumer Sentiment: Thomson Reuters / University of Michigan
Americans are neither very optimistic nor very negative these days, but the Index of Consumer Sentiment inched up to a 14-month peak in April. Consumer sentiment has rebounded from the depths of the Great Recession but continues at historically low levels. High gasoline and food prices stifle and remind consumers everyday their disposable income is slipping away, but at least we all have the latest Android or iPhone! We can text and surf away unto oblivion.
Some of the good is technology is changing life for the better, American entrepreneurship bubbles up through the government disincentives, the economy is muddling along with at least some growth, the spring weather is nice, consumer sentiment has increased 8 consecutive months to a 14-month high, and maybe nothing really bad will happen for at least awhile.
Some of the bad is technology is changing our life for the worse, just 1 in 4 households anticipate an improved financial situation during the year ahead, 1 in 7 citizens are on food stamps, 50% of 2012 college graduates are unemployed or underemployed, full employment is far from being restored, the government encroachment in and control of our lives continues unabated, and the national debt rises ever higher.
Surely the EU sovereign debt crisis and the mess those silly Europeans created is not a preview of things to come here in the Land of the Free? Good Lord, us Americans are not that goofy to run up a bunch of debt we can't pay and be forced into fiscal austerity hell, are we?
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