The Joy of Staying In By Tim Melvin About this article: I found yesterdays headlines somewhat amusing. The line that leaped out at me was that stock prices were dropping as a result of a surprising drop in consumer confidence. Why on earth it was that surprise? Other headlines form the same news service were about joblessness rising in all metro areas in the United States and housing prices had fallen another 18% year over year. I was more surprised when consumer confidence rose in prior months. People who are in fear of losing their jobs and watching their net worth drop by a third or more in less than two years are generally not going to be very confident about anything. The constant search for green shoots in the face of reality is a futile exercise at best. Real estate is falling and unemployment is rising -- there is no recovery until those two situations... Or, call us at 1-866-321-TSCM (8726) Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-6 p.m. ET. Outside the U.S. and in Canada, call 1-212-321-5200.

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