Cause and Effect?

Does this [Emphasis is mine throughout]

Twenty-six percent (26%) of American voters say the nation is moving in the right direction, while 66% say it is heading down the wrong track, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.

The number of voters who think America is moving in the right direction is down slightly from last week’s high of 29%, but it marks the third straight week in which over a quarter of voters share that opinion despite increasing bad economic news.

stem from this?

The Rasmussen Consumer Index, which measures the economic confidence of consumers on a daily basis, fell to a new record low for the second straight day on Thursday. Just two days after Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner’s presentation of the White House financial rescue plan, the Consumer Index fell to 56.2, surpassing the all-time low set the day before. During 2008, record lows for consumer confidence were recorded on a regular basis. Consumer confidence is down two points from a week ago and one point from a month ago.

Rasmussen pegs the low to Geithner’s presentation of the rescue plan, but couldn’t it simply be the downturn/recession/depression that’s making folks nervous and causing low approval ratings?

I suppose we won’t know until we start to pull out of this mess.

Waukesha Carnival 02/08/2009

Welcome to this week’s edition. It’s gettin’ late and I have to work tomorrow, so let’s get to it.

First sad news, Darryl Enriquez at Waukesha FYI tells us about the Waukesha Freeman layoffs. One of those laid off was photographer and Waukesha blogger Byron Houlgrave, who shared the last picture he clicked for the Freeman.

Continuing in Waukesha city, Jeff reviews the fish fry at Michael’s Italian America Restaurant at Five Points Blog.

James Wigderson went to the Waukesha Common Council meeting and shares his thoughts with us at Wigderson Library & Pub.

Spiralling out a little, Linda Richter at Inside New Berlin finds the security cameras in schools unsettling and it’s not just the price tag.

At peterepublic, Pete Fanning drops by to remind us he’s still alive, just very, very very busy.

Kyle Prast at Practically Speaking reminds us that US Rep. Sensenbrenner and state Rep. Leah Vukmir will have several town halls. One is past, two are upcoming.

In posts about state news, Wisconsin Sen. Mary Lazich (chief aide Kevin Fischer?) points out at Conservatively Speaking that the Wisconsin Covenant program could be costly.

In a couple of miscellaneous posts, Curt Otto gives us the question to last week’s answer, or something like that. Any way it’s all over at Maple & Main.

Meanwhile, over at the Spring City Chronicle, Michael Phelps gets the Bonehead of the Week award. Pretty much a unanimous vote, I would say.

Then in posts on national issues, MommaBlogger takes time out to rant over that Florida case of the botched abortion at Homemakers Guide to the Galaxy.

Dan Deibert shows us how fast government can move when they want to, with pictures at The D Spot.

Alex has some thoughts about Republican votes and raises at A Little off Main.

At The Other Side of  My Mouth, Tim Rock has some thoughts on the Republican vote on the stimulus package.

Silent e tells us why Democrats are unpatriotic at silent e speaks.

Cindy Kilkenny has a two-parter over at Fairly Conservative on building our own stimulus package.

Dad29 points out that the American people seem to be understanding the ramifications of the stimulus package.

Whew, that’s it for another long one. As usual, if you have one you liked add the link in the comments below or e-mail me at thoughtfulconservative [at] yahoo [dot] com. Same for posts you’d like to nominate for next week’s carnival. It doesn’t have to be one of your own. Links to our archives and future editions can be found here.

Quick Hits

Emptying out my drafts folder:

Top 9 Good Habits For A Deep Recession – These are good habits when there’s no recession.

From the Pew Research Center, The Religious Makeup of Congress – a nice graphical representation of the religious beliefs of the Congress compared with the American public as a whole.

By the director of new media in Obama’s Minnesota campaign, Developing a New Media Strategy for Campaigns Large and Small. This, of course, would not contradict experienced hands as Wigderson and Fraley who tell me, depending on the campaign, that a candidate needs to go door-to-door, but would be in addition to that.

How Can Facebook Crack its Advertising Problem? One problem with Facebook–it appeals to older folks like me who aren’t enticed to click the ads.

Cory Leibman has resurrected Eye on Wisconsin. Cory is a “progressive,” but he’s also a thinker and I like to read thoughtful folks like myself. 🙂

Massachusetts has a new marijuana law.

It sounds simple, but David Capeless, president of the Massachusetts District Attorneys Association, said the new policy presented a thicket of questions and complications.

There, now I feel better.

Signs of the Apocalypse

Luck of draw hurts Lottery

An extraordinary lucky streak for Maryland lottery players has meant more bad news for a state budget already hobbled by the recession.

Economy’s Latest Victim: The Holiday Office Party

A record number of companies have dropped holiday parties this year while others are scaling back how much they spend, what they serve and/or how many people they invite.

This would have been the kind of thing I would have expected to read at Dad29 and have him point out another sign of the recession: Wastepaper market in the dumps

Ordinarily, much of the scrap would have been shipped to China, where it would be mashed into pulp and recycled into new cardboard boxes to package many of the goods destined for American store shelves.

But American consumers aren’t buying so many nicely packaged televisions, computers and toys these days. And China’s economy is slowing too.

California fiscal officials try ‘Scared Straight’ approach with Legislature

In the 1970s, hardened felons tried to deter juvenile delinquents from lives of crime through “Scared Straight” presentations in which they portrayed prison life in all its brutal unpleasantness.

On Monday, California’s top fiscal officers attempted to deliver a similar jolt to state legislators who have yet to address a $28-billion projected budget gap.

Now they tell us

Panel says US has been in recession since Dec. ’07

By one benchmark, a recession occurs whenever the gross domestic product, the total output of goods and services, declines for two consecutive quarters. The GDP turned negative in the July-September quarter of this year, and many economists believe it is falling in the current quarter at an even sharper rate.

But the [National Bureau of Economic Research]‘s dating committee uses broader and more precise measures, including employment data. In a news release, the group said its cycle dating committee held a telephone conference call on Friday and made the determination on when the recession began.

The problem is that we don’t know a recession is happening until after it’s begun. Unless you ascrobe to a quote I read last week (where, I don’t know. Sorry) that went something like “You know you’re in a recession when politicians tell you the economy is fundamentally sound.”

Waukesha Carnival time again 02/24/2008

Another week has sped by. And it’s time for another edition of the Waukesha Carnival. For the uninitiated, a carnival is a blog post of blog posts. Most of the time posts are submitted by the author’s. But here, so far, I’ve chosen most of the posts as ones I’ve found thought-provoking. But I’m open to submissions, provided they are written by Waukesha bloggers or are about Waukesha. Submit your blog article to the next edition of a waukesha carnival using this carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on the blog carnival index page.

Primary day here in Wisconsin has come and gone. So let’s get under way with some presidential politics.

Josh at Blog Waukesha has some thoughts posts something he received on the New York Times story about John McCain’s alleged romantic relationship with a lobbyist.

Fox Head explains why Obama scares him.

In entertainment, Pete Fanning posts his predictions for the Oscars. How did he do?

Then we get some state politics, first from Shawn Matson, proving it’s never to early to speculate on races, gives his idea on who might replace Herb Kohl if he steps down at the end of his term in 2012.

James Wigderson, a little bit closer to home and a little closer in time, looks at current and future challenges to our state assemblyman, Bill Kramer.

Let’s throw in some photography. I grabbed two of Bryon Houlgrave’s pics from this week, one of the capitol building in Madison at night and the other of the recent lunar eclipse.

Local politics grabbed my attention. Spring City Chronicle looks at a candidate for director of public works in Waukesha. Cindy Kilkenny, though travelling, takes time to explore the spin in the figures given for the upcoming Elmbrook school district referendum.

Kyle Prast asks, “Are you sure you want govt. run health care?” In a word, No.

Dad29 had two posts I thought were good on the economy, this one on The Coming Big Bank Bailout (Taxpayer-Financed, of Course) and this one which looks at defining recession.

To wrap up this week’s carnival we end with a post by David B. Bohl on
Do You Make The Mistake Of ODing On Self Help? In it he writes,

I’m a little concerned that some people seem to always be reading the latest self-help book and saying things like, “This is the book for me. This is what I’m going to do to change my life.”

Read the rest at his blog.

See ya next week!