Earnings and the real economy aren’t the only facets of the economy that are experiencing a tepid if not false recovery. Ratings at business juggernaut CNBC continue to plummet. The latest Nielsen data shows a 40% decline in daytime viewers versus last year. Of course, it’s important to note that the financial crisis makes for very difficult comps (much like the easy comps earnings and the economy are currently experiencing). What is interesting to note, however, is that CNBC’s viewership declined 19% versus 2007. If you think consumers aren’t sick and tired of hearing about how well Wall Street is doing and how well the stock market is doing look no further than this data. The real economy remains incredibly fragile/weak and consumers are tired of logging onto Monster to look for jobs while Wall Street reports record bonuses and “better than expected” everything else.
This is just one more sign of the real state of the consumer’s frustration with the current state of affairs. CNBC, which just so happens to represent the apologist for everything Wall Street, is bearing the brunt of it.
Mr. Roche is the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Discipline Funds.Discipline Funds is a low fee financial advisory firm with a focus on helping people be more disciplined with their finances.
He is also the author of Pragmatic Capitalism: What Every Investor Needs to Understand About Money and Finance, Understanding the Modern Monetary System and Understanding Modern Portfolio Construction.
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