Americans are more pessimistic about the nation’s economic outlook and overall direction than they have been at any time since President Obama’s first two months in office, when the country was still officially ensnared in the Great Recession, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

Amid rising gas prices, stubborn unemployment and a cacophonous debate in Washington over the federal government’s ability to meet its future obligations, the poll presents stark evidence that the slow, if unsteady, gains in public confidence earlier this year that a recovery was under way are now all but gone.

Capturing what appears to be an abrupt change in attitude, the survey shows that the number of Americans who think the economy is getting worse has jumped 13 percentage points in just one month. Though there have been encouraging signs of renewed growth since last fall, many economists are having second thoughts, warning that the pace of expansion might not be fast enough to create significant numbers of new jobs.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Psychology • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Consumer/consumer spending • Corporations/Corporate Life • Housing/Real Estate Market • Labor/Labor Unions/Labor Market • Personal Finance • Politics in General • House of Representatives • Office of the President • President Barack Obama • Senate • * International News & Commentary • America/U.S.A.

1. Teatime2 wrote: Well, yeah! It is just so depressing when you’ve already cut every non-necessity out of your budget to make ends meet and you see the necessities going way up in price, too. Most of the jobs being created are in the service industry and are not high-paying. April 25, 4:28 pm | [comment link]

2. upnorfjoel wrote: What we need is some hope and change. April 25, 9:12 pm | [comment link]

3. lostdesert wrote: What we need is more state funded (just who is the “state”) healthcare, more state supported higher ed tuition, more state supported farming, state subsidized energy investment, state funded planned parenthood, state supported public broadcasting, state funded wars.  State funded DEBT - to the tune of another few trillion.  Yah!!! That’s it!  Everything they do is really helpful. April 27, 5:32 am | [comment link]

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