While avoiding the need to finish my review of the Prescott core Pentium 4 vs Northwood C core Pentium 4, I shall address this.
As of March 2004, the Business Consumer Confidence Level is the highest it's been since March of 1989.
Individual consumer confidence rose sharply this month citing strong job market conditions and a positive outlook over the next 6 months.
Consumer Confidence Index
In regards to home sales, it's quite simple. People buy what they can afford. With interest rates being so low, they are able to get into a house with a price tag much higher than they would have. At the same time, the housing market has seen huge increases in the final sale prices of homes in the recent couple of years. The bottom line is that people are spending just as much as they would have, but more of them are buying homes.
While I share concerns over the economy in general, more specifically in the moving of good jobs moving overseas or out of the country. Putting the blame on the Bush administration is hardly fair or logical in regards to such accusations. The Clinton Administration left this time bomb sitting in the oval office for the next president.
The too often noted concept that the United States is so wealthy that we can directly enhance the 3rd world status of all poor nations is ludicrious. The United States has a population of about 300 million vs the Earth's population of 6 billion. Nearly 2.5 billion of that living in India and China, which are not exactly the wealthiest nations. It's like trying to cool a gallon of boiling water with a pint of 40* water.
In regards to taxes, the "rich" pay far more in taxes than the average citizen.
Related NCPA Report
Ever notice that your net pay increases little with your salary increases because it moves you up into another tax bracket? Maybe you notice that you only get about 1/2 of your annual bonus or profit sharing net of taxes? The "rich" pay that tax under normal circumstances. While there are definitely instances of blatent abuse of tax codes by some businesses and wealthy individuals, there are just as many by low and middle income workers who file "zero" tax returns IMHO. While the proposed tax cuts do favor "wealthy" individuals, the lower income bracket citizens also see a decrease in taxes.
There is most definitely a huge problem with the current pay structure in corporate America. Higher level executives are seeing pay levels that are completely unwarranted, and irresponsible. Steve Jobs is probably the most blatent abuser of corporate pay I've seen in recent years. The average major corporation's CEO makes 500x the base wage in the company. Japan is the next country in line for CEO pay based on the base worker's wage. It's 12x more. See a problem there? I do. That being said, I'm not entirely sure how to fix the problem in a free market, capitalist economy. Maybe if more American's actually paid attention to their investments and economic issues, this wouldn't have happened, but instead, they'd rather blather on about rehashed, inaccurate, politically motivated articles released by our obviously biased media corporations.