Consumer Confidence Surges. In Slovenia.
True dat. “The Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia announced that the consumer confidence indicator increased 8 percentage points month-on-month in September to reach its highest level since August 2007.” Meanwhile, here in the U.S., “The customer is telling us that their head is in a completely different place than in April when gas went above $3.50 per gallon. Their heads are right now where, ‘I’ve got to be more careful and I feel like I have less wealth,’ and that brings the whole industry down.” Sorry we missed that little bit of Cheech and Chongism from FoMoCo’s Marketing Guy Jim Farley [via Reuters]. But even if Farley seems a little lost in the [blue] clouds, the man’s not wrong. The current U.S. financial meltdown is hardly likely to encourage the average American consumer to run down to his local car dealer and sign-up for a three to (gulp) six-year loan. And even if they felt so inclined, as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress, “The intensification of financial stress in recent weeks, which will make lenders still more cautious about extending credit to households and business, could prove a significant further drag on growth.” Bailout bucks notwithstanding, with gasoline shortages and the prospect of recession looming, the U.S. car market has hit the wall. “Economic activity appears to have decelerated broadly,” Bernanke warned, with British-quality understatement. If you don’t know it now, wait ’til TTAC reports September’s new car sales results…
More by Robert Farago
Comments
Join the conversation
The more I learn, the more I believe we are looking at another mild recession, not even close to a depression. Now, if you work on Wall Street, you might feel differently. The combo of the Bush administration and Congressional Democrats let this happen to us, and they could fix it easily, and with little pain. The question is will they.
Mild recession? Good. Then we can skip the bailout package.
1. Slovenia has moose? 2. "If you don’t know it now, wait ’til TTAC reports September’s new car sales results…" - Is that the day GM's 100th b-day party ends?
Moose are everywhere, usually called elk. One of the most ubiquitous animals in the world, probably.