Perceived Economic Conditions

In the February 24 post, titled "Economic Expansion, Recession Or Depression?"  I discussed whether the U.S. economy was then in an economic recovery, economic recession, or economic depression.

In that post, I highlighted the Marist Poll results of February 5, in which 61% of respondents believe that the U.S. economy is in a recession.

Recently, there have been another survey in which respondents were asked if they believe the U.S. is experiencing a recession.

This was the Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, as seen in the August 5, 2014 Wall Street Journal article titled "WSJ/NBC Poll Finds Widespread Economic Anxiety."  An excerpt:

The latest Journal poll of 1,000 adults, conducted between Wednesday and Sunday night, found some signs of improvement in American views of the economy. Half of those polled said the economy is improving, and 49% think the U.S. is still in a recession, down from 58% last summer and 77% in 2008.

As well, the Federal Reserve report released August 7, 2014, titled “Report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2013," which was discussed in the previous post ("Financial Situation Experienced By Americans") includes this finding, as seen on page 7, under the heading "Current Situation versus Five Years Ago" :

When asked to compare their current financial situation to their financial situation five years prior, 34 percent reported doing somewhat or much worse financially, 34 percent reported doing about the same financially, and 30 percent reported that they were either somewhat or much better off.  Given that respondents were being asked to compare their incomes to 2008, when the United States was in the depths of the financial crisis, the fact that over two-thirds of respondents reported being the same or worse off financially highlights the uneven nature of the recovery.

Additional details regarding the poll and survey results can be seen in the Wall Street Journal and Federal Reserve report mentioned above.

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The Special Note summarizes my overall thoughts about our economic situation

SPX at 1936.81 as this post is written