The voyage to the bottom of the toilet just never gets old for us
americans, does it?

How low will we go?

"The share of Americans saying they are financially worse off
compared with a year ago is, by historical standards, high
-- eight percentage points above the average.

The record high of 55% occurred in May and September 2008,
the year (and, in the latter case, the month) of the global
financial meltdown orchestrated by GW Bush and Alan Greenspan"

========================

January 15, 2014

More Americans Worse Off Financially Than a Year Ago

http://www.gallup.com/poll/166850/am...-year-ago.aspx

More Americans Worse Off Financially Than a Year Ago
Yet most expect to be better off within a year, as if living in a fairy
tale.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - More Americans, 42%, say they are financially worse
off now than they were a year ago, reversing the lower levels found over
the past two years. Just more than a third of Americans say their
financial situation has improved from a year ago.

These results come from Gallup's annual "Mood of the Nation" poll,
conducted Jan. 5-8. Gallup has found that Americans' economic
confidence, self-reported consumer spending, and perceptions of job
creation improved in 2013. Despite Americans' more positive views of the
overall U.S. economy in 2013, nearly two-thirds believe their personal
financial situation deteriorated or was stable over the past year.

Though down from mid-2013, the percentage of Americans saying they are
financially better off than a year ago is nearly in line with the
historical average (38%), spanning 1976-2014. On the other hand, the
share of Americans saying they are financially worse off compared with a
year ago is, by historical standards, high -- eight percentage points
above the average. The record high of 55% occurred in May and September
2008, the year (and, in the latter case, the month) of the global
financial meltdown.

Most Americans Have High Economic Hopes for Year Ahead, because they're
****ing idiots with no intelligence, memory, or ability to reason

While many Americans say the past year was a financial dud, a majority
(55%) predict that at this time next year they will be financially
better off. Child-like optimism about the future may still be the
predominant feeling, but the overall positivity of the nation's personal
financial predictions appears to be easing, compared with the average
during the past decade.

Bottom Line

Despite a sustained, if sluggish, economic recovery that has lasted
nearly five years, most Americans report being no better off financially
than they were a year ago. Indeed, the share of Americans saying last
year put them in a worse financial position is on the higher end of the
1976-2014 trend. Although this would seem to suggest that many Americans
begin this year in a state of financial unease, a majority instead
believe the next year will be financially uplifting. As previous years
show, Americans are typically more positive about their future compared
with their assessments of the past, a testament to the enduring sense of
optimism many Americans share about their financial future.