Free Republic

Just 16 percent of Americans have confidence in the federal government. No surprise. Looking back at this polling series by the Pew Research Center, we see that public confidence in the federal government peaked at 77 percent back in 1964; as recently as 2001, confidence stood at 54 percent. No need to rehash all the reasons for the decline, but if more than four in five Americans mistrust the federal edifice, the phenomenon is bipartisan and far-reaching.

Confidence! It’s what consumers DON’T have under Bidenomics. For the fourth straight month, The Conference Board revised its consumer confidence data significantly lower. In fact January’s was the biggest downward revision since Feb 2022. And Conference Board Consumer Confidence was DOWN to -3.90 in January, the worst since Feb 2022. It really isn’t surprising the consumer confidence stinks. Food prices (CPI) are UP 21% under Vacation Joe Biden. Diesel fuel prices are UP 90% under Listless Joe. Well, Biden’s appearance on (unfunny) Seth Myer’s Late Night Show certainly didn’t make me feel more confident about America’s future.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Monday said President Joe Biden “continues to have complete confidence” in Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin even after he was admitted on January 1 to the intensive care unit — where he remains — but did not alert Biden of his condition until Thursday, January 4. A reporter asked Jean-Pierre, “Should the American people have confidence in Austin, given his lack of transparency?” Jean-Pierre then claimed that Austin had “taken responsibility” by issuing a statement on Saturday.

Americans’ faith in the U.S. military has declined to its lowest level in more than 20 years, according to a recently released poll. Conducted by Gallup from June 1-22, the survey found that over the past five years, an increasing percentage of Americans are now “less likely” to voice “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in the U.S. military. According to the poll, 74 percent of Americans expressed such sentiments as recently as 2018. That number has since declined to 60 percent, marking the lowest level since 1997. As noted by Gallup, overall confidence in the U.S....

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumer confidence shot to the highest level in two years this month as inflationary pressures eased and the American economy continued to show resilience in the face of dramatically higher interest rates. The Conference Board, a business research group, said its consumer confidence index rose to 117 in July from a revised 110.1 in June. The gauge beat the 110.5 that economists had expected and was the highest since July 2021. The index measures both Americans’ assessment of current economic conditions and their outlook for the next six months. Both improved in July. The future expectations...

What could it be? The spiraling costs, year after year, with massive overhead and bureaucratic costs soaring? The collapse in competence and civil knowledge? The lunatic, fringe, cultish partisan and ideological indoctrination? Maybe a bit of all the above, and then some. Like so many other institutions across American society, trust in American higher education is crashing. Though there's one notable demographic exception. Gosh, I wonder why: Confidence in American higher education has hit a new low.Democrats are the only group with majority confidence in it.pic.twitter.com/MEhElYzNto— Steve McGuire (@sfmcguire79) July 11, 2023As recently as 2015, a majority of the public...

Consumer considence (according to the Conference Board) remains below pre-Covid levels despite the massive Federal spending spree and Fed money printing). Of course, Joe Biden’s inappropriate, rambling address on the Nashville school shooting (where 3 children and 3 adults were murdered by a man claiming to be a woman (aka, trans) isn’t helping Americans confiderence in its leaders. What a dunce.

Now that we are seeing inflation and serial bank failures in the U.S. with few prospects of any improvement so long as Joe Biden is in the saddle, perhaps a look at what that's like when the experience is extended is worth the trouble. Emily Stewart, at Vox of all places, has written a brilliant, yes, brilliant, piece describing in minute detail just what the hell that kind of living is like. What is it like for a modern economy and a first world lifestyle to go the way of, well, Argentina? She describes it from a recent trip very,...

Only 10% of U.S. adults say they have high confidence in the nation’s banks and other financial institutions, a new poll finds. That’s down from the 22% who said they had high confidence in 2020. Following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank this month, the poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research also finds that a majority say the government is not doing enough to regulate the industry. The underwhelming assessment of America’s banks and bank regulation comes after a series of shocks brought back disturbing memories of the 2008-2009 financial crisis. […] Though confidence in banks...

According to the Conference Board, consumer confidence, which includes a key indicator on where consumers see the economy going and what they plan to do as a result, is looking up.Reuters reports:The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index increased to 108.3 this month, the highest reading since April, from 101.4 in November. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the index at 101.0. While the survey places more emphasis on the labor market, the rebound in confidence matched a similar rise in the University of Michigan's sentiment index.Consumers' 12-month inflation expectations fell to 6.7%, the lowest since September 2021, from...

According to Patrick Basham, there are such things as “non-polling metrics” -- things like comparative party registrations, turnouts in the primary elections, social media followings, attendance at campaign rallies and other measures that had, prior to the 2020 presidential election, predicted the outcome of presidential elections with 100% accuracy. In 2020, all these measures pointed to a Trump victory. In attendance at campaign rallies, for example, Trump’s average attendance exceeded Biden’s by a average ratio of 343 to 1. And yet Biden won. There were other anomalies: “…Biden could win only one of the 19 battleground counties around the U.S.,...

Fox News anchor Bret Baier confronted CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky on this week’s broadcast of “Fox News Sunday” about the public losing confidence in her agency over their COVID guidance. Baier said, “Dr. Walensky, you mentioned the confusion about the guidance, and over the past year, the most recent example is obviously on isolation and testing, but other guidance is the mask-wearing, educators being vaccinated before returning to the classroom. Before you took this job officially, you emphasizes that one of your primary goals was to restore public trust. But in this time, do you think that it’s fair...

The fall of new coronavirus infections gave a boost to consumer confidence in October but inflation fears are still rising, the Conference Board said Tuesday. “While short-term inflation concerns rose to a 13-year high, the impact on confidence was muted. The proportion of consumers planning to purchase homes, automobiles, and major appliances all increased in October—a sign that consumer spending will continue to support economic growth through the final months of 2021,” said Lynn Franco, the senior director of economic indicators at the Conference Board.

The honeymoon is over. Economic confidence slipped back into negative territory, according to survey data released by Gallup on Monday. Gallup’s Economic Confidence Index dropped to -7, down from +2 in April and back to the level registered in March. Gallup said the recent shifts in confidence “may reflect public reaction to a stronger-than-anticipated jobs report in April, followed by a weaker-than-expected report in May.” It is also likely that confidence has been shaken by rising prices and shortages of some products and materials, including the recent widespread gas shortages

This year is marked by gloomy and unknowable prospects. Here are some thoughts on the virtue of confidence that will strengthen the soul. “Have confidence, I have overcome the world.” Our Lord Jesus Christ “And I say to you, Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and you shall find: knock, and it shall be opened to you.” Our Lord Jesus Christ “Confidence is a hope fortified by solid conviction.” Saint Thomas Aquinas “Advance very simply with the Cross of Our Lord, and have peace with yourself. You will pass through every storm safely, as long as your trust...

Thursday, Fox News Channel’s Tucker Carlson opened his program, arguing that if the public lost confidence in America’s election processes, it would have consequences that would permeate throughout society.

U.S. consumer confidence fell sharply as expectations about economic conditions plummeted in July. The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index fell to 92.6 from 98.3 in June. Wall Street economists had forecast a milder decline to 95.7, according to Econoday. The Present Situation Index – based on consumers’ assessment of current business and labor market conditions – improved from 86.7 to 94.2, reflecting the reopening of the economy. But the Expectations Index – based on consumers’ short-term outlook for income, business, and labor market conditions – fell from 106.1 in June to 91.5 in July. “Consumer Confidence declined in July following...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (CN) – The case against a business associate of former national security adviser Michael Flynn went to the jury Monday, which will determine whether he illegally lobbied at the direction of Turkey without telling the federal government. During closing arguments Monday, prosecutors said 66-year-old Bijan Rafiekian tried to carefully mask who was behind a project he and Flynn worked on that aimed to discredit Fethullah Gulen, a cleric Turkish President Recep Erdogan has blamed for a 2016 failed coup against him. “They tried to subvert the American process so Erdogan could get his hands on Gulen,” U.S. Attorney...

The University of Michigan’s index of consumer sentiment climbed to 96.8 from 95.5 last month.

Small-business confidence is surging in 2018 as optimism rises among small-business owners about the newly enacted tax-reform package, according to the latest CNBC/SurveyMonkey Small Business Survey, released Tuesday. The CNBC/SurveyMonkey Q1 Small Business Confidence Index saw an increase of five points, from 57 to 62, a record high and the largest quarter-to-quarter move the index has seen since CNBC and SurveyMonkey began measuring last year. This is the first survey since President Donald Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act into law on December 22, 2017. In the Q4 survey, small-business owners were split evenly on the core question...