Americans Are Bearish on America
People think things are bad now and expect them to get worse
Consumer confidence is plunging. Here’s how ZeroHedge described today’s University of Michigan Consumer Confidence report:
UMich headline sentiment crashed from 67.2 to 61.7 (against 67.0 expectations). Both Current Conditions (from 72.0 to 68.5) and Expectations plunged (from 64.1 to 57.4), even though both were expected to show modest rebounds...
This chart indicates confidence hasn’t been this low since the financial crisis.
In short, Americans are bearish on America.
It would be easy to blame the economy for all of this. Inflation is at a 40-year high. The stock market seems ready to crash. Interest rates are about to take off. Homebuying sentiment is plunging. And people seem to have given up on their dreams of buying a car.
But the human mind does not look at the economy in isolation. People don’t evaluate their situation in logic-tight compartments. Mentally healthy people evaluate current conditions and future expectations by considering everything: health, family, geopolitics, autonomy, employment, and the relative comfort of the shoes they’re wearing. You know this. It’s difficult to enjoy a movie with a migraine.
Here’s a tiny sample of the current situation from Fox News:
Even if the economy were getting along as if Trump were still president, people would have a poor view of America’s current situation (and a dimmer view of its future) because of myriad other factors we all know about.
Americans have never been less free
Trust in other people and institutions have never been lower
We were never closer to global thermonuclear war, even during the Cuban Missile Crisis
Our government is inviting illegal aliens to invade the country to punish American citizens
All of this comes down a simple truth: the people whom we have put in charge of things hate us and want us obedient or dead.
When you think about it, there is no reason for consumer sentiment above zero. Without a radical change to most aspects of society, America will soon become a psychotic blend of the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany.
What little hope remains must stem from one of two sources:
Believe the entire system will collapse
Faith in God
(The two are not mutually exclusive, by the way.)
It’s true that the tyrants are frightened. Canada’s dictator is in hiding, even dodging the parliament he’s part of. But snakes strike hardest when they’re cornered. Their venom flows unabated when they’re in the most danger.
Expect to see something horrifying on the Ambassador Bridge in the next few days. Something unimaginable just 18 months ago, as both the US and Canadian governments are ready to make an example of those freedom truckers—an example to shock the rest of us into submission. (Or open rebellion.)
Other than that, have a good weekend.