Job woes slam confidence

Consumer confidence reading sinks to lowest since May on worries about jobs.
August 31, 2004: 10:43 AM EDT



NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Consumer confidence plunged in August, hurt by worries about jobs, a research group said Tuesday, in a report that fell far below forecasts by private economists.

The Conference Board, a business research group, said its confidence index sank to 98.2 from a reading of 105.7 in July. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com forecast that the index would slip to only 103.4. It was the lowest reading since May and the biggest drop since February.

Consumer confidence is an important indicator of consumer willingness to spend, especially on big-ticket items. About two-thirds of the nation's economy is driven by consumer spending.

The sharp drop followed four straight months of gains in consumer confidence.

But it also follows much weaker-than-expected employment reports for June and July. The government's August employment report is due Friday.

"The slowdown in job growth has curbed consumers' confidence," said Lynn Franco, director of he Conference Board's Consumer Research Center. "The level of consumer optimism has fallen off and caution has returned. Until the job market and pace of hiring picks up, this cautious attitude will prevail."

Those saying jobs are "plentiful" slumped to 18.1 percent from 19.7 percent, while those claiming jobs are "hard to get" was virtually unchanged at 25.8 percent.

The consumer outlook for the employment market also worsened. The survey found 15.4 percent expecting fewer jobs six months from now, up from 13.5 percent in the July survey. Those expecting more jobs six months from now fell to 16.2 percent from 19.5 percent.

Consumers were also less optimistic about the general business climate. The survey found 23.2 percent who believe business conditions are "good," down from 25.2 percent. Those claiming conditions are "bad" rose to 20.1 percent from 19.1 percent.

The board surveys 5,000 households for its monthly report.

You did not expect neo-cons to discuss issues, did you? Bad economy does not matter, Swift Liars do.

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The war on terror involves Saddam Hussein because of the nature of Saddam Hussein, the history of Saddam Hussein, and his willingness to terrorize himself. George W. Bush

hee hee hee

No, I really had some info to add on this topic.

The job numbers for August will be out this week (I think Friday). People in the know are expecting 150,000 job growth (but they've been surprised before).

There will only be the job numbers for August and September before the election (the October figures will come out after Nov. 2). So Bush has only two more shots at good news. Bush will be sweating the load on the numbers this week.

RNC Monday Night

think I figured out the formula:
9-11
9-11
9-11
9-11
John Kerry sucks
John Kerry is a flip-flopper
Terrorism
Amen
No talk about domestic issues. No talk about jobs. Nothing on the economy.
Interesting, that. The war party peddles in fear, because that's all they have left to sell.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/...ain/index.html

apparently they planned it this way

lol... just kidding with you

No, they also peddle in fuzzy economics, homophobia, and in religious fervor, from their great book, "The Gospel, according to George W. Bush"

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"The belief that nothing exists outside your own mind--surely there must be some way of demonstrating that it was false" - 1984

Funny

It is not funny, when our good fate and our future in question!
This 2 parties getting to the point, that can not find new lies, so throwing frogs and manure at each other.
Neither of them has revolutionary idea! They both chewing on old flavorless chewing gum! They represents demagogue. and playing broken plastic records!
Vote for Libertarian, vote for Michael Badnarik! At least we can have a hope for a better America!

He is an Alternate for George Bush.

Here are George Bush's credentials

http://gwbush.info/

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The liberation of the mind is what it means to be a liberal.