Up your forecasts right now. Because we're going to have tax cuts and all kinds of stuff. They're going to be pumping pumping pumping. |
We've been seeing double-digit declines in confidence for more than a year, yet people don't mind buying a new car or a truck or trading up for a new house or taking out a second mortgage -- you would think these people have guns to their heads. We feel so lousy, but it sure doesn't seem like we're behaving that way. |
What is most likely, assuming a relatively quick end to war in Iraq, is a more robust economy with increased, but not problematic, inflation pressure. After that, however, the scenario of stagflation is a very real possibility. |
What we tell clients all the time is that, when it comes to consumer names and goods, we always prefer plays that exhibit two factors: strong consumer demand and pricing power. |
When people report that consumer confidence and business confidence are down, those things have less to do with the fundamental state of the economy than with this kind of funk, this uncertainty, this uneasy feeling. So anything [the government] does to say, 'Look, we understand, try this remedy' -- I'm all for anything like that. |