❗Let's close the gap: We still need your help to raise $40,000 by April 1. Donate now

Gas prices down, confidence up?

Marketplace Staff Dec 12, 2008
HTML EMBED:
COPY

Gas prices down, confidence up?

Marketplace Staff Dec 12, 2008
HTML EMBED:
COPY

TEXT OF STORY

KAI RYSSDAL: Every day in this crisis brings some new tidbit of information. And today didn’t disappoint. After wallowing at record lows for months now, consumer confidence actually bumped up last month. Do you suppose it’s a coincidence that gas is $1.65? We asked Sally Herships whether cheap prices at the pump are really enough to put smiles on back on shopper’s faces.


SALLY HERSHIPS: Brooklyn taxi dispatcher Yesenia Gonzalez is a confident consumer. On a scale of 1 to 10, she says she’s at 9 1/2.

YESENIA GONZALEZ: My gas tank was 50 bucks. Now it’s $30. So I feel happy that I’m spending less on gas. I’m gonna spend somewhere else. Absolutely.

A few blocks away Carolina Perry says she’s from Venezuela. She knows her oil. The low prices make her pocket feel good. But she’s still concerned.

CAROLINA PERRY: This could be a long-term recession, and I myself don’t feel any more confident then I was back in September.

So one consumer is confident, the other not so much. What’s going on?

Economist Gary Shilling says last month’s uptick in consumer sentiment is small. Consumers are still down in the dumps.

GARY SHILLING: Even when they’re paying less at the gasoline station they’re not turning around and spending that like drunken sailors on Christmas goodies.

Shilling says America has been on a buying and borrowing binge for 25 years, and now the tide has turned.

I’m Sally Herships for Marketplace.

There’s a lot happening in the world.  Through it all, Marketplace is here for you. 

You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible. 

Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.