Consumer Confidence Crashes

Consumer confidence has dropped to a new low of 29.5, the lowest since the index began six years ago. This is a good article that shows the areas that are hitting consumers hard and keeping them from spending. Key are the continued slashing of jobs and the rising prices of gas. News 12 was on when I was eating breakfast this morning, and the business reporter was talking about how Linens and Things is filing for Chapter 11, some airline's going bankrupt, Bed Bath and Beyond got their credit rating downgraded, and he said that the one "bright light" is that credit card companies like Mastercard are reporting higher-than-expected earnings. One of the reporters then asked him, "how can that be considered a bright light, if that means that more people are using their credit cards to pay for a pack of gum?"