24/7 Wall St.

You can fool some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time. but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time. At least that is what Abraham Lincoln  believed and it seems to be proven in a new Washington Post/ABC poll. The survey shows that“Despite fresh signs that the worst may be over for the beleaguered U.S. economy, there has been no let-up in public fears about possible financial hardship ahead and there is broad concern that not enough is being done to avert another meltdown.”

In other words, the average citizen is not buying into expert statements that things are better.

The most import information from the survey of 1,007 conducted between September 10 and September 12 is that 60% of the people polled are worried about job or pay losses. That number is almost unchanged since the poll was done in February, at the depth of the recession.

The result of the survey may surprise experts who believe that the economy is expanding again and that 2010 should be a year of renew prosperity. People who are out of work,  and have friend and family and neighbors out of work are having trouble seeing what economists claim that the see.

The data points to a deep-rooted concern among people who have to become consumers again for the economy to have a sustained recovery that spending money is risky. The money is dry powder for what may be a prolonged period of relative poverty among the lower and middle classes.

That Washington Post/ABC survey shows that the groundhog sees his shadow and has gone back to a long period of hibernation.

Douglas A. McIntyre