Financial doubt shown by colliding reports

Two recent reports on consumer economic perceptions appear to offer conflicting findings. But could the reports indicate an underlying and justifiable doubt about the economic climate? Article source: A loan that i can pay back in 1 year


Consumer confidence and financial uncertainty


According the industry group The Conference Board, the country's consumer confidence rebounded in February to a degree nobody expected. The board's report showed a consumer confidence index of 69.6, a considerable spike from Jan that was revised down to 58.64 -- the lowest seen in more than a year.



Lynn Franco believes as the Conference Board Consumer Research Center director that people do not seem to mind the drop in paycheck amount anymore. At first, it was a big shock, but now people do not seem to care.



Unless Congress and the White House can make another decision soon, American customers will have to struggle with $85 billion in spending cuts on the first of March. That is another thing that Americans have to worry about, and it is almost here.



Other report showed sequester



The country will be impacted negatively by the issue, according to 62 percent of Americans in a Pew Research study. The separate report suggests that not everyone agrees.



According to the report, only 25 percent of respondents are actually following the issue to see what takes place.



All consumers fight about it



So consumer confidence is up. But at the same time, most Americans feel the issue will impact the economic climate for the worse in a significant way. The reports seem to be at odds.



But what does this schizophrenic information really mean? Those polls are unreliable? That people are uninformed and do not know what they want? But perhaps even more so it illustrates that these are insane times, evoking a crazy response.



The issues never get resolved and are just avoided until the deadline approaches. The economy really does depend on how these issues are resolved right at the very end.



The country really should not be run this way. In fact, the CFPB would fine a business that ran in that manner.



Sources



Daily Finance

ABC

Pew Research