Consumer Confidence in February stumbled to 106.7 from 110.9 In January, and significantly missing Wall Street consensus of 115.0.  According to Dana Peterson, Chief Economist at The Conference Board, “The drop in confidence was broad-based, affecting all income groups except households earning less than $15,000 and those earning more than $125,000.”

Yep, the Middle Class knows it is getting hosed. But we keep spending because somewhere along the line being an American has gone from saving money in coffee cans and sock drawer to spending every nickel and borrowing on future nickels.

It’s a trickle up economy and the way to benefit is to own stocks.

By the way, we are going to start hearing about a partial government shutdown then potentially a full shutdown.

It helps to keep the ten-year yield elevated, while exerting some pressure on the dollar.

The last shutdown was fantastic for stocks.  Mostly, these things reveal how bloated the government is, but the media narrative is always the world is coming to an end.

The eventual demise will come from feckless spending and massive debt, not smaller government.