Politics: Notice a Trend?

The Consumer Confidence Index plunged this month to its lowest point since 1993. That's a drop of 15 points. Here are some relevant bits:

This month's confidence readings paint a gloomy picture of current economic conditions, with no apparent rebound on the short-term horizon," [Lynn] Franco [director of the Conference Board's Consumer Research Center] said.

As part of the Present Situation Index, consumers who rated current business conditions as bad rose to 30.7 percent from 26.7 percent. The number who said business conditions are good declined to 13.2 percent from 15.0 percent.

And consumers aren't pinning much hope on the economy getting better in the next six months.

Those surveyed who believe business conditions will turn even more sour increased to 19.0 percent from 14.0 percent. The percentage of consumers who believe conditions will improve dropped to 15.3 percent from 17.7 percent.

The number of consumers who said jobs are hard to get rose to a 9-year high of 30.1 percent from 28.9 percent, while those who said there are plenty of jobs decreased to 11.2 percent from 14.5 percent. Looking six months down the road consumers were more pessimistic, with the number saying they expect there to be fewer jobs available jumping to 28.4 percent from 21.2 percent. The number expecting more jobs fell to 12.7 percent from 14.2 percent.

It continues to amaze me that Americans can respond honestly in these situations. The Consumer Confidence Index isn't some fly-by-night project. It appears to honestly reflect that Americans are worried about the economy, and believe that their worries won't be alleviated for months and months. And yet, the Bush administration plunges ahead with a war that will cost billions of dollars and a tax cut that will leave us with billions more in deficits for decades to come. How can the American people tell the Consumer Confidence board that they are worried about the future, that jobs are hard to get and that there will be fewer jobs in the future, and still support this war?

I want to believe that they don't support this war. These poll findings hint that they are willing to wait, because the idea of a unilateral, pre-emptive attack on even a leader as bad as Saddam Hussein isn't something any country should just be doing. 56% said that we should wait for the UN to opt-in. I want to believe that they are being frightened and intimidated by war mongers and are also being slowly convinced of reality by honest dealers from across the ideological spectrum.

I want to think they've got the guts and the brains to stand up when they suspect that someone they admire (whether I agree with them or not) is lying. A lot of Americans support President Bush, because he seems to be a plainspoken guy that slightly less than half of those who bother voted for. They like him because they seem to think that rallying around a person is a good thing to do when we're scared or shocked, as opposed to rallying around something abstract like freedom or peace. But I think (or maybe I want to believe) that these consumer confidence numbers, and these thoughtful questions show that Americans are slowly waking from a slumber. They may come around slowly, but I have to believe that they'll come around.