April Consumer Confidence Falls is todays's headlines.   Are you surprised?  I'm not!  The price of a gallon of gas is about $2 a gallon more than I would like to pay for it.   Every time I go to a restaurant I cannot help but notice that the prices have gone up.  The result, I eat out less!  In the supermarket I can spend $65 and ask myself "Did I buy caviar?" My next trip to the store, I will stick to my list, and forgo some comfort foods.   If home prices are declining, and airfares are going up why would I not notice it?  Will I probably take less trips this year?  I think that is a more likely scenario.  The same is true of housing and real estate.  If sales are declining, prices are dropping, and foreclosures are rising, whould I rush into buy?  Why would my confidence in the economy and future not decline? Common sense is tellling me to proceed with caution.   This applies to gas prices, inflation, home prices, jobs, unemployment, oil prices, the devalued dollar, out sourcing.

Personally, my confidence has declined, but not in the way you think.  My confidence has declined in leadership in the United States.  It is being run by losers and opportunists, that do not care what is happening to the American people.  It really doesn't matter what political party our leaders belong to, you are not invited to share the wealth and power they are taking form us!  They do not care that jobs are going overseas, or that manufacturing in USA is no longer a way to make a living.  Both political parties signed off on NAFTA.  American leadership should have term limits, we should outlaw lobbying, and we should be energy independent.  Any nation that can put a man on the moon, has or had the ability to develop a new fuel source to lead the US through this new millennium without being dependent on foreign nations.  America is having a confidence crisis on the lack of leadership.