Small businesses helping to buoy consumer confidence
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Unemployment is down. Consumer confidence is up. Seems like a great time to go shopping for rose-colored glasses. We’ve got the latest on American attitudes toward the economy with Frank Newport, editor in chief at the Gallup Poll.
Holidays are usually a very positive time of the year. Some really extraordinary day-by-day well-being data show how much Americans’ happiness spiked on Thanksgiving — making it one of the happiest days of the year — before plummeting again this Monday as people returned to work.
The economy is, typically, Americans’ No. 1 concern — but at the moment, it’s making people happier. More Americans are negative than positive about the economy, but it’s better, in relative terms, than it has been since the beginning of the recession. And Gallup’s consumer confidence index is now as high as it has been in 17 months.
Small businesses are a major engine of jobs and growth in the United States. The latest Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index shows as high a level of optimism as has been apparent since 2008. With all of that, are Americans still worried about having enough money to spend?
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