My Goodness, That's a Crappy Number
The Conference Board's index of Consumer Confidence shocked on the downside this morning. Various mouthpieces are blaming Hurricane Katrina and energy prices, but nobody is fingering the other obvious culprit: Americans were jolted, courtesy of the disastrous Bush Administration response to the hurricane, by the realization that the country is being "run" by a starting line-up of Michael Browns, backed by a very deep bench of Michael Browns.
And that sort of epiphany is a bummer, not only for citizens but also for consumers.