We have two separate surveys that showed a sharp decline in economic confidence in May.
Here’s the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index, which dropped 9.4% in the first weeks of May to an 11-year low:
“Consumers’ current assessment of financial position is at its lowest level since 2013 compared to last year, and 36 percent of consumers attributed their negative assessments to inflation,” Xu said.
There is evidence that high inflation undermines demand by reducing the cost of large purchases.
“The conditions for purchasing durable goods have reached their lowest level since the question began appearing in monthly surveys in 1978, again due to high prices,” Xu said.
Also on Friday, the Rasmussen Report was released on economic confidence, down 20 percentage points from April. “The drop in May canceled growth for two consecutive months,” Rasmussen said.
Also: “The index is currently at an eight-year low.”
So what has changed? How did we go from a two-month improvement in economic confidence to something that reversed so quickly that “return” seemed like an under-description?
Rasmussen argues that this is because (a) continued inflation and (b) the March-April numbers artificially increased with early tax returns, followed by a sharp decline when millions of late applicants learned they owed money to the IRS this year. “.
This, of course, makes sense. I’ll just add: The gas hike this month is amazing. We are used to gradual increase. This month’s jump is completely unique. Local gas cost me $3.83 per gallon one Saturday. When I returned to the gas station less than a week later, the price had skyrocketed to $4.19.
That’s a jump of 36 cents.
Gas prices are the barometer by which we all evaluate the situation. The rise in prices by this amount, accompanied by the rapid psychological shock of price increases of more than four dollars, tells American citizens that something is wrong, something is spiraling out of control, and they are worried.
What worries us the most is the man in charge of the president, a heartless left-wing extremist who barely knows where he is, screams like crazy and kills oil well rents to keep it blatantly high, the price of gas.
President Joe Biden’s administration has terminated all oil and gas leases to Alaska’s Cook Inlet and the Gulf of Mexico effective Wednesday night, May 11 (iStock/Getty Images, BNN Edit; Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images, BNN Edit)
How many people in these surveys have seen these empty shelves with so much baby food before?
Empty shelves in the baby food section of a Virginia store are marked with a sign limiting the quantity each customer can purchase if items are in stock. (Breitbart News)
Inflation is getting worse. The crisis in the supply chain is getting worse. Gas prices are high, rising. Violent crimes continue. Lawlessness outside the home of five Supreme Court justices was allowed to continue. The border is wide open and this illegal occupation is draining our taxable housing, energy, baby food and law enforcement resources. All this time we’ve been spending $40 billion to protect Ukraine’s borders.
In essence, we have a malicious government that intends to drive this country down the channel. The realization of this fact scares people more than anything else.
Source: Breitbart
