Maybe London is a beginning -- or maybe it's just a result of the G-20. Time will tell.
We had a very large and bloody demonstration when the G-8 met on the west coast and again a few years later when they met in DC. The last meeting was very calm because the president took the precaution of holding it in a southern state (known for police violence) and on a secluded island that was basically blocked for 20 miles up and down the coast. Difficult to know or measure if people in this country are ready to demonstrate in this way again -- republicans have had their tea parties -- very small gatherings of mostly ideologues who want the US to hide in the sand and hope for the best. Some of their titular leaders are calling for revolution but not because we are spending too little on average people, but because we are spending too much on the poor. They hope for a depression so that we will forget about Bush and bring back Hoover. On Mar 31, 10:42 am, xi <[email protected]> wrote: > My comment: No change, not much to comment. > > :) > > We live a temporary period of calm. Yet CCI is low enough to monitor > it monthly. However, sentiment seems to be released through individual > criminal actions, it does not create any collective atmosphere to > release it. At least not yet. > > Peace and best wishes. > > Xi > > http://www.conference-board.org/economics/ConsumerConfidence.cfm > > The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index™, which had declined > sharply in February, was flat in March. The Index now stands at 26.0 > (1985=100), up from 25.3 in February. The Present Situation Index > declined to 21.5 from 22.3 last month. The Expectations Index > increased to 28.9 from 27.3 in February. > > The Consumer Confidence Survey™ is based on a representative sample of > 5,000 U.S. households. The monthly survey is conducted for The > Conference Board by TNS. TNS is the world’s largest custom research > company. The cutoff date for March’s preliminary results was March > 24th. > > Says Lynn Franco, Director of The Conference Board Consumer Research > Center: "Consumer Confidence was relatively unchanged in March, after > reaching an all-time low in February (Index began in 1967). The > Present Situation Index suggests that the overall state of the economy > remains weak and that more job losses are on the horizon. Apprehension > about the outlook for the economy, the labor market and earnings > continues to weigh heavily on consumers' attitudes. Looking ahead, > consumers remain extremely pessimistic about the short-term future and > do not foresee a turnaround in economic conditions over the coming six > months." > > Consumers' assessment of overall present-day conditions remains > unfavorable. Those claiming business conditions are "bad" rose to 51.1 > percent from 50.5 percent, while those claiming business conditions > are "good" edged down to 6.8 percent from 7.0 percent last month. > > Consumers' appraisal of the labor market was somewhat more pessimistic > in March. The percentage of consumers saying jobs are "hard to get" > increased to 48.7 percent from 46.9 percent in February, while those > claiming jobs are "plentiful" was unchanged at 4.6 percent. > > Consumers' short-term outlook was moderately less negative this month. > Consumers expecting business conditions will worsen over the next six > months edged down to 39.1 percent from 40.7 percent, while those > anticipating conditions to improve increased to 9.1 percent from 8.5 > percent in February. > > The employment outlook was also moderately less pessimistic. The > percentage of consumers expecting fewer jobs in the months ahead > decreased to 42.6 percent from 47.0 percent, while those expecting > more jobs edged up to 7.1 percent from 6.8 percent. The proportion of > consumers expecting an increase in their incomes declined to 7.5 > percent from 7.9 percent. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "World-thread" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/world-thread?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
