Americans are beginning 2011 with renewed confidence as financial security sentiments reached their highest level since April 2010. The COUNTRY Financial Security Index(R) rose 0.8 points to 64.9 in February. This marks the first time Americans have started the year with improved sentiments since the COUNTRY Index began in 2007.
Most voters continue to believe that government bailouts were a bad idea, and a plurality still fears the government will do too much to help the economy.
As frequent readers of this column know, I am not the biggest fan of e-mail.
Half of all Americans own stocks, bonds or mutual funds, but most are also unaware of that fact.
Homeowners continue to hold little hope for the value of their house in the short-term and show no new confidence in long-term recovery.
Economists still argue about what caused the Great Depression of the 1930s and what got the nation out of it.
The number of homeowners who say their homes are worth more than what they still owe on their mortgage has fallen to its lowest level in nearly two years.
"I have been running a successful online company -- a limited liability company -- for several years, with a number of different lines of business. Another company has made an offer to buy one of my lines of business for a very attractive price, and I'm inclined to accept.
Consumers' confidence sharply rebounded in January, fueled by a surge in the number of middle-income consumers who see improvement in the U.S. economy and in their personal finances are improving, according to the Discover U.S. Spending Monitor.
The Rasmussen Employment Index made a modest gain in January to reach 77.2.
"I have a successful retail business that I want to take online with a killer website and a social media marketing campaign on Facebook and Twitter. The problem, of course, is money. I need to raise $100,000 to build the website and launch the campaign, but am having trouble finding the money.
After falling in December, confidence among small business owners rebounded in January as more see the economy and economic conditions for their businesses improving, according to the Discover(R) Small Business Watch(SM). The monthly index rose to 91.0 this month, up 9.4 points from December 2010 and 5.5 points higher than one year ago, the highest the index has been since December 2007 when it stood at 92.7.
In his State of the Union speech this week, President Obama refrained from using the term “government spending,” calling it "investment" instead, and made sure to highlight his support for extending the Bush tax cuts. Most voters continue to feel that cutting taxes and reducing government spending are best for the economy.
The overwhelming majority of Americans continue to know someone who is out of work and looking for a job, but the number who believe unemployment will be higher one year from now is at its lowest level in over a year. Confidence in the current job market also has reached a recent high.
While a number of states now face serious budget shortfalls, most voters continue to oppose federal bailout funding to help them out.?
States are currently not allowed by law to file for bankruptcy, but former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and others have argued that bankruptcy might be the least painful alternative for taxpayers in heavily debt-ridden states like California, Illinois and New York. Voters aren't thrilled with the idea, but they like it better than higher taxes, and they're even more supportive if told government employees might have their pensions reduced in the process.
President Obama argued strongly in his State of the Union speech last night for a bipartisan effort to create jobs, but most Americans think the best thing government can do is get out of the way.
Despite renewed concerns about the price of gas, most Americans still aren’t likely to buy an electric car in the next 10 years.
President Obama is expected to call for targeted new government spending for education, transportation and technological innovation in his State of the Union speech tonight, but voters are lukewarm to the idea.
"For the past couple of years, I have run a brick-and-mortar retail store specializing in customized merchandise. I really want to take this business to the next level by building a website that will enable customers nationwide, and maybe even internationally, to customize our merchandise online. We have a proprietary technology for customizing our clients' orders that our attorneys tell us can be patented. We also have one of the best software developers in America wanting to work with us to develop the website.
