Consumer Confidence in the U.S. Continues to Dip
After declining in September, consumer confidence in the United States continued to erode in October, according to the Conference Board. This business organization compiles the Consumer Confidence Index, which declined from 53.4 in September to a sobering 47.4 in September. This dip surprised analysts, who expected to see stability or even a modest increase in consumer confidence.
It really should not have been a surprise to the financial wizards. A disastrous and still increasing rate of unemployment, compounded by record levels of home foreclosures, hardly creates an environment conducive to consumer optimism.
The economic implications of eroding consumer confidence are clear. Prior to the onset of the global economic crisis, the American consumer generated more than 70% of U.S. GDP. Even with massive deficit-funded stimulus programs, the retreat of the American consumer has created a collapse in economic demand that simply cannot be made up. If there is a recovery, it clearly won’t be led by the consumer.
But without the releveraging of the American consumer, where else can the slack be made up? The bad news is that Ben Bernanke actually has an answer for that economic predicament. It’s called money printing.
