- by New Deal democrat
While we are waiting for tomorrow's employment report, here's a little something to chew on.
In the immediate aftermath of the Presidential election -- as in, by the end of that week -- Gallup's measure of economic confidence soared, from its 2016 average of roughly -10 to a positive number and to nearly +10 by the end of November:
In fact, while the confidence of Democrats sank, the confidence of GOPers skyrocketed even more.
Since I have very little faith in the GOP agenda to deliver any uptick in growth, I have been watching and waiting for this confidence to ebb. It did somewhat beginning in March, but never to the point of coming close to that in the final year of Obama's term. (For the doubters, consider George W. Bush's economic policies. Despite being the most right-wing since the 1950s, we had the weakest post-War jobs and wage growth on record, and a weak GDP to boot. Where was the trickle-down?)
Until last week. Last week Gallup's economic confidence index fell to -7:
As shown in the graph, it has since rebounded. But it appears that after half a year of accomplishing absolutely nothing legislatively, the reality that the economy really hasn't changed at all -- in fact it may be waning just a bit -- is beginning to sink in.
