DiMartino Booth: “Remember, This Is A Confidence Game”
- In the past two weeks, led by those in the Midwest, renters, part-timers and those making $50,000 or less, the Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index has declined 4.3 points, its steepest decline since 2011; its Personal Finance Index sunk to a 10-month low despite peak stocks
- Since June, households have built more cash than credit, a.k.a. de-levered; this coincides with three of the last four months’ declines in revolving credit with the two months through September marking the first back-to-back declines in more than seven years
- The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index’s two-week fall led by those making $50,000 or less occurred alongside two weeks of continuing claims rising over the prior 12 months, the first of the cycle; a third week of deterioration in these two indicators would establish a trend
It helps to be familiar with your source of inspiration. Suffice it to say Hugh Cregg III qualified on this count despite a well-to-do upbringing in San Francisco’s Bay Area and being carted off to a private prep school in New Jersey. As artists tend to, Hugh forged a different path than pedigree suggested of the bookish student athlete who earned a baseball scholarship. Somehow, he ended up working as a truck driver, a carpenter, a short order cook, a partner in a landscaping business and even a street corner singer in Europe before finally making a name for himself. Though it wasn’t his first hit, with a breadth of experience as inspiration, Huey Lewis would one day hit it big with “Workin’ for a Livin’.”
Working men and women have been among the most content Americans in recent years. As we’ve written extensively in recent months, CEO confidence has been cascading downwards while that of the lowest income earners has held at some of the highest levels.
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