The Declining Confidence of Americans

I account for the real possibility of civil unrest when I make investment decisions. Civil unrest is one of those things that will have an inordinate effect on the gold price. If gold has come this far from good old government mismanagement alone, imagine how high it can go if Americans protest. It has been quite some time since protests due to a weak economy were even a remote possibility. How quickly things change.

In the video below, you get a sense of where public confidence is in America. (Email subscribers may have to go to my site to watch the video). Take the time to check out the video- some of you may be surprised at how bad public sentiment currently is.

As you can see, confidence in America is remarkably low 2 years after the recession ostensibly ended. Even I was surprised to hear that 48% of Americans fear a Great Depression in the next 12 months. For once, I am probably on the bullish side. I personally don’t think there needs to be another Great Depression for us to see civil unrest. Cuts in entitlements coupled with persistently high unemployment will do the trick. So will unbridled spending that leads to higher inflation.

There was once a time when Americans actually had confidence in their leaders: while we knew they weren’t perfect, we didn’t think they were outright buffoons. As long as the economy was humming along, Americans turned a blind eye to corruption. However, now that our economy has stalled, our leaders don’t have the same benefit of the doubt they once had. When our leaders bail out their friends in Wall Street, it annoys us. When they preach an economic recovery that simply isn’t there, it offends us. When they don’t pay their income taxes and get away with it, it angers us. When did the disconnect between our leaders and average Americans become so large?

This is certainly the lowest level of public confidence I’ve experienced in my life. The scary part is that it is likely to get worse. State and municipal workers are not going to be happy when the next round of layoffs occur. Baby Boomers will not be happy that their Social Security checks are not keeping up with inflation. Recent graduates will be frustrated by the lack of jobs while they are saddled with student loans. The large population of underwater homeowners will only grow more agitated that they do not get the same bailout Wall Street does. There is a way to restructure and forgive some of these debts to allow people to stay in their homes. Will it happen? Probably not. It is apparently more important to give banks free money and watch them hoard it in preparation for the next wave of writedowns.

There are huge holes in the way we are managing our economy. If we don’t get our act together quick, there will be a distinct possibility of civil unrest. This is a threat the government is 100% aware of. As always, gold will sniff out our problems ahead of time. $1500 gold is sending a clear message that I’m not sure our politicians are ready to hear: Confidence is collapsing in America.

The Declining Confidence of Americans is a post from: Expected Returns

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