solutions, many of them, lie with congress. but there are causes and there are many of them. a simple answer would be the cleanest, the most convenient, out of control deficits or stimulus. it s barack obama or george w. bush, but it s not that simple, not that satisfying. one cause however does stand out amongst many. cheap and ample credit. for years the ability of almost every working american to access more credit than they should have been able to, masked the underlying fact that lower and middle class incomes were not rising. people felt and in many cases actually were wealthier than their salaries or socioeconomic status would suggest. getting a loan and buying a house, often more house than you needed or would have expected to buy, made you feel wealthier. as more people bought those houses, your net worth increased. you borrowed against that house, maybe. maybe you put your kids through college with the money. maybe you bought another house or financed a small busine
solutions and right now, those solutions, many of them, lie with congress. but there are causes and there are many of them. a simple answer would be the cleanest, the most convenient, out of control deficits or stimulus. it s barack obama or george w. bush, but it s not that simple, not that satisfying. one cause however does stand out amongst many. cheap and ample credit. for years the ability of almost every working american to access more credit than they should have been able to, masked the underlying fact that lower and middle class incomes were not rising. people felt and in many cases actually were wealthier than their salaries or socioeconomic status would suggest. getting a loan and buying a house, often more house than you needed or would have expected to buy, made you feel wealthier. as more people bought those houses, your net worth increased. you borrowed against that house, maybe. maybe you put your kids through college with the money. maybe you bought another h
this week we learned that the measure of consumer confidence fell for the fourth month in a row to its lowest levels since january. you may disagree with why it s down. but, again, the customer who in this case is the american consumer is always right when it comes to the economy. why? because if americans are worried about the economy, they delay making important purchases and a perceived economic slowdown can easily become a reality. okay. so it s happening. but why? well, probably the biggest reason is this jobs. 20 straight months of job growth. yes. but over the last five months, look at that trend. roughly corresponding to the drop in consumer confidence, hiring in america has slowed. a week from now we ll have the job creation numbers for june to see where this trend is going. but until we have a strong jobs recovery, americans are going to hold back. and that is going to hamper a wider recovery. frankly, there is good and real reason to be nervous. it s that economi
proof. that s fair. so here you go. you probably know that more than any other developed nation, the u.s. economy is driven by its citizens and on how confident they feel about their future. this week we learned that the measure of consumer confidence fell for the fourth month in a row to its lowest levels since january. you may disagree with why it s down. but, again, the customer who in this case is the american consumer is always right when it comes to the economy. why? because if americans are worried about the economy, they delay making important purchases and a perceived economic slowdown can easily become a reality. okay. so it s happening. but why? well, probably the biggest reason is this, jobs. 20 straight months of job growth, yes. but over the last five months, look at that trend. roughly corresponding to the drop in consumer confidence, hiring in america has slowed. a week from now we ll have the job creation numbers for june to see where this trend is going. but