Consumer Confidence: Another Hairball

That frisky critter we call Consumer Confidence has reared its butt once again in greeting the most ferocious shopping season of the year. This is not the glad tidings retailers had on their Christmas wish list.

The bad numbers just in from the Conference Board index look like this;
November 87.3 vs October's 95.2.

As a former stock broker, I always questioned the value of this index. Maybe some retailers base their inventories on this exciting fact. But then again, why would you ask sheep what kind of grass they like as an indicator of what brand of seed to plant. And what will I, as a consumer, do differently knowing this index of administrivia? Am I missing something?

That we are the economic man or woman making rational spending choices is just another hairball. Emotion trumps logic! We are most often impulsive spenders. Sometimes we border on the compulsive. Even when we are up to our eyeballs in debt and know it's risky to buy more, we seem to have an overriding consumption gene that judges the risk as low. Why? Could it be because we simply want what we want and we want it now. Any available information to the contrary is akin to putting your head in the litter box.

Whatever the timid confidence of those other pussies, most consumers will ignore the prudent postponement of gratification in the upcoming fast paced, blow-out, one-of-a-kind, sales season that we will witness this year.

But, come January, after the credit card statements have arrived, ask me about Spending On Purpose. Oh, what the heck. Just be impulsive and buy my book, SAVING Is for Suckers, right now.