Boy are we bummed out about the economy according to the latest research from the Pew Research Center. Just 17 percent of those surveyed think the economy is in good shape. That’s not terribly surprising. There’s a big difference between asking someone about their own financial health and the nation’s health.

Most commonly cited concerns are on pricing– gas, health care, inflation, Jobs, and Housing. Debt is far behind on the list, with just 4 percent of respondents believing that’s the biggest economic problem facing the nation. What do you think is our biggest economic problem?In other surveys, the National Retail Federation found consumers are going to go out and spend just 41 percent of the stimulus rebate checks that will land in our mail boxes and bank accounts in late spring or summer. Surprise surprise!

How about you? We’re going to get $1,800, which is ridiculous. But I’m not going to send it back. I think we’ll replace our front door, which lets so much cold air into our house you need to wear a coat if you stand in front of it for more than 15 seconds. We might also finally go for a new TV; our 10-year-old behemoth has a buzzing speaker on certain channels.

Then again, we may also save it. Perhaps the survey is premature. Maybe people are talking safe for now, but once that money is handed over it will be a different story and consumers will spend like mad.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 14th, 2008 at 4:14 pm and is filed under economy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.