I don't think that he ever did anything intelligently. It's just that in the past he was not as confrontational and a bit more moderate. It's important to remember that 90% of the time, he writes(wrote) purposely vague and ambiguous replies...in an effort to "insinuate" a point without actually boxing himself in with a strong statement or opinion. It was always a ruse to hide the fact that he lacks the intellect to form his own opinions; rather he rides the coat tails of propogandists like Krugman et al.
Consumer Confidence best since Feb â08. The Conference Board Consumer Confidence # for Nov was 73.7, about in line with expectations and up modestly from the 73.1 print in Oct. Itâs the best since Feb â08 and the improvement is most seen in the answers to the labor questions where those that said jobs were Plentiful rose to 11.2, the most since Sept â08. Those that said jobs were Hard To Get were unchanged but held at the lowest since April. Also of encouragement, those that plan to buy a home within 6 moâs rose 1.5 pts to 6.9. the highest on record. Those that plan to buy a car/truck fell .7 pts. Also of note, those that plan to buy a home appliance such as a fridge, tv, or air conditioner rose to a new high. One year inflation expectations ticked lower to 5.6% from 5.8%, a 4 month low, consistent with the lowest gasoline prices since July. Bottom line, November confidence, depending on where you live and who you voted for, captured a lot of mixed emotions and still held at multi year highs. What this means for actual holiday spending remains to be seen but the mood for now is ok. I say just âokâ because confidence is still below the 10 year average of 77.0 and the 20 year average of 93.1.