Consumer spending up, but morale at 4-month low

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Worries over high unemployment pushed U.S. consumer confidence to a four-month low in August, while spending rose modestly in July, indicating the economy’s recovery from recession would be lethargic.

The Reuters /University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers said on Friday its final index of confidence for August fell to 65.7, the lowest since April, from 66.0 in July. However, sentiment improved from early this month.

A separate report from the Commerce Department showed consumer spending edged up 0.2 percent in July, driven by the government’s “cash-for-clunkers” program that fueled demand for autos, after increasing 0.6 percent in June.

Incomes, however, were flat after a steep 1.1 percent drop in June, underscoring the pressure on households from falling housing prices and rising unemployment.

“The big driver of the economy is still on the sidelines. The household sector is worried about the job market and until that shows some significant improvement, households are going to be pretty restrained,” said Bill Hampel, chief economist at the Credit Union National Association in Washington. (Aug 28, 2009)

3.After they drank their coffee Mrs. Corleone took one of Kay’s hands in her two brown ones. She said quietly, “Mikey no gonna write you, you no gonna hear from Mikey. He hide two-three years. May be more, maybe much more. You go home to your family and find a nice young fellow and get married.”

Kay took the letter out of her purse. “Will you send this to him?”

The old lady took the letter and patted Kay on the cheek.

“Sure, sure,” she said. … “You forget about Mikey, he no the man for you any more.” ( M.P.)

4.In most countries, foreign languages have traditionally been taught for a small number of hours per week, but for several years. Modern thought on this matter suggests that telescoping language courses bring a number of unexpected advantages. Thus it seems that a course of 500 hours spread over five years is much less effective than the same course spread over one year, while if it were concentrated into six months it might produce outstanding results. One crucial factor here is the reduction in opportunities for forgetting; however, quite apart from the difficulty of making the time in school time-tables when some other subject would inevitably have to be reduced, there is a limit to the intensity of language teaching which individuals can tolerate over a protracted period. It is clear that such a limit exists; it is not known in detail how the limit varies for different individuals, not for different age-groups, and research into these factors is urgently needed. At any rate, a larger total number of hours per week and a tendency towards more frequent teaching periods are the two aspects of intensity which are at present being tried out in many places, with generally encouraging results. (P.St.)

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