The federal government Friday extended its deadline to apply to the Emergency Homeowners Loan Program, but most Americans believe troubled homeowners should sell their homes rather than receive government assistance to keep them.
The belief among Americans that purchasing a home is a family’s best investment is weaker than ever.
For the second month in a row, less than half of America’s homeowners believe the value of their home is worth more than the amount they still owe on their mortgage.
Confidence that home values will go up over the coming year has fallen to the lowest level ever recorded.
Those trying to figure out the mood of the American voter right now are bound to be scratching their heads. Last November, the voters threw Republicans into Congress in almost record numbers with a mandate to slash government spending and keep taxes as low as possible.
The U.S. Department of Energy says that new light bulbs will cost more up front but save money in the long run. That, plus expected energy savings, has led to government regulations that will effectively ban the sale of traditional light bulbs starting next year.
After dipping to a two-year low last month, the number of Americans who expect to pay higher interest rates next year has returned to levels found earlier in 2011.
Most Americans remain worried about inflation and lack confidence in the Federal Reserve to keep inflation under control and interest rates down.
As the Beltway politicians try to figure out how they will raise the debt ceiling and for how long, most voters oppose including tax hikes in the deal.
As the nation struggles with high unemployment and a depressed housing market, voters are evenly divided about which worries them more—that the government will not do enough to fix the economy rather than do too much.
Trust in the U.S. banking industry has steadily slipped over the past three months, and the number of Americans that lack confidence now outweighs the number that is confident.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the major lobbying force in Washington, DC for the business community, but voters have mixed feelings about the organization.
One-in-five working Americans continue to classify themselves as poor, while the number of those who consider themselves middle class has fallen to a two-year low.
"I run a small advertising agency with about 10 employees. Given the nature of our work, our employees spend much of their time online, especially on the social media websites including Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. We have found these websites a tremendous source of revenue, as all of our clients are looking to develop advertising strategies for these sites.
Voters don’t care much for government regulation of the economy and think it has a bigger negative impact on small business.
While many policy makers worry that credit is too tight, most Americans think instead that people are borrowing more than they can afford.
Last November, the Rasmussen Employment Index capped four months of improvement by reaching its highest level since February 2008. At that time, the number of workers who reported their firms were hiring (20.5%) was nearly equal to the number reporting layoffs (20.7%). That was the best net hiring number (-0.2) since the financial industry melted down in September 2008. It also turns out to be the peak of the post-bailout era.
American workers are more confident that their next job will be better than their current one, but most still aren’t looking for other work just yet.
As with many organizations that get caught up in partisan politics, the NAACP gets mixed reviews from the American public.
As Congress continues its debate over the national debt ceiling, Americans are less confident than ever that the nation’s policymakers know what they are doing when it comes to the economy.
