The Economy Line: Surging Consumer Confidence

George W. Bush ^ | June 23, 2004

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Consumer Confidence Jumps.  "Consumer confidence surged last week, reversing a month-long decline sparked by rising gasoline prices. The ABC News/Money magazine Consumer Comfort Index jumped five points to -15 on its scale of +100 to -100. In 18 years of polling, the index has only risen that sharply 15 times with the last being just after the fall of Baghdad.   This week's five-point gain also erased any lingering traces of a nine-point drop in the index, from -11 in mid-May to -20 last week." 
("Consumer Confidence Jumps," CNN/Money, http://money.cnn.com/2004/06/22/news/economy/abc_money/, 6/22/04)

Retirement Assets in Mutual Funds Hit All-Time High.  "The share of fund assets in the U.S. retirement market rose to 22 percent from 20 percent in 2002, the Investment Company Institute reported. That matches the all-time high reached in 1999. U.S. retirement assets -- which include IRAs, annuities, and employer-sponsored pension plans -- totaled $12.1 trillion at the end of last year, up from $10.2 trillion in 2002. Retirement assets invested in mutual funds were about equally split between IRAs and defined contribution plan accounts."  ("Retirement assets in funds hit record," CBS MarketWatch.com, http://cbs.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid=%7B47372483%2D6ADD%2D401A%2DBC26%2D629289CB7464%7D&siteid=mktw, 6/22/04)

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Imagine that. The economy is on a tear and growing faster than in the last 20 years. Even the liberal media just can't hide it any longer.