Tom Dedham, Mass:

Right on Tom!!

You might include mention of the expodential increase in demand by India and China on the world's market for oil, steel, etc.

Clinton also decimated the intelligence community.

Clinton could have hindered the proliferation of al Qaeda by eliminating the terror camps in Afghanistan…so bad he was unwilling to spend some political capital. Perhaps 9/11 could have been avoided.

Bottom line, Clinton was a failure despite his ardent attempts to rewrite history.

People know that they are having more trouble making ends meet. Gas up, cost of milk up.

If economy is issue #1, then Ron Paul will win. He is the only candidate that understands and could explain why it is harder to make ends meet and save. GDP is 4%, but not really due to inflation. Inflation is not 2%. Your government has lied. They do not calculate food, energy, or housing. Real inflation is closer to 10%. The fed and their rate cuts are the culprit. Just you tube Ron Paul in his debates and his hearings with the Fed.

The economy could have collapsed after the CLINTON recession (not some moron off the streets opinion, but a fact in his last year after the dotcom boom went bust).

He balanced budgets by GUTTING the military even though we were being ATTACKED all over the world, how'd that work out for us?

9-11 again should have destroyed us financially, but it didn't.

Katrina wiped out a state but we plug along still. Local, state and Federal are all to blame for the waste.

Two wars that indeed cost money, but then freedom isn't free.

The tax cuts that EVERYONE who PAYS taxes got is one of the few things this knucklehead did that worked.

The stock market, unemployment and the GDP etc, etc all are at or BETTER than when billyboy left office.

NAFTA was his puppy, he signed it and it is squeezing the lower and middle class as much as ILLEGALS taking those jobs away from the lower and middle class.

The people that Hillary supposedly is going to "fight for".

The losers who bought houses they couldn't afford are the new "help bail me out for being stupid Mr Gubment" and we are ALL going to foot that bill.

Sell one of your three cars, Wii games, big screen TV's, 80 gig IPODS, IPHONES or one of your 3 cell phones that your family "needs so much".

CNN, if you want to do a public service, post the FACTUAL economic data and people might then be able to make a decision based on the truth and not what you force feed them into believing.

Is the economy GREAT, No it is not, but it has been chugging along smoothly and consistently for 7 years DESPITE all that has happened.

We are going to hear and read for the umpteenth year in a row that the Christmas season was less than expected because of the "bad economy", but when the INTERNET sales are calculated in, it will be another record year and you will then hear and read very little about that.

I guarantee that.

Are Americans this stupid? Or do they believe everything they read? The GDP last quarter just grew at the fastest pace in more than 6 yrs and people still think we are in a recession cause the press keeps telling people how bad it is. Unemployment is low, earnings is up, the Dow is going to make 12% percent this year, come on people wake up. The press keeps making a stink about the subprime market and how it is bringing down everything. People I am in the brokerage business the Subprime market accounts for less than 6% percent of the overall housing market……6% PERCENT….Stop believing everything you read do some research on your own and stop blaming the WORLDS PROBLEMS on this President,,,,things are not so BAD….

Fed. revenue has grown since President Bush's economic plan and tax cuts for all income levels.

As far as the car industry, unions are making it hard to keep the auto makers competitive .

the only candidate running who understands fully whats up economically is Dr. Paul, a follower of the Austrian school. Youtube his beatdown of Dernake, then tell me he does not deserve to be president.

Gary detroit Mich,,,,, You owe it to free trade ,,Period Your industry has been in decline for 20 years

How can 57 percent of americans polled believe we are in recession but only 29 percent believe the economy is most important polled ??? this makes no sense CNN. where are the signs of recession that acompany it ?

The GOP posters denying that a recession is going to happen soon, is like the Dems denying that the surge is working in Iraq. Frankly, IMO I think a pending recession is in the works and I think signs point to the surge working.

I believe we are currently in a recession that started in the summer of 2007. I am in the wholesale furniture business and I can tell you our industry is touching on all-time futility.

That alone doesn't mean we are in a recession of course, but with oil where it is at, with our national debt skyrocketing, with the devaluing of our dollar, with inflation increasing at a rapid rate, with Americans living well beyond their means at high debt levels, and the housing market about to explode on top of everything, our financial outlook isn't exactly rosy.

More importantly, when a majority of the public thinks we are in a recession, we are in a recession. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy. We had the same thing with the housing market. Reports starting coming out questioning the health of the housing industry, and before you knew it, the bubble burst.

Well, technically, we are not in a recession, YET. There are signs indicating that we are headed towards one, though. My family, like many, many other families out there, have found it increasingly difficult to make ends meet recently, what with gas prices and food prices rising and everything. Combine this with all the problems in the housing market and with the easy credit not being thrown around anymore, things have potential to get really ugly.

sure a lot of peole don't understand the economy, but you don't have to have a degree in medicine to know when you are sick.

And when we talk about GDP we need to know more, if one man gains $10 and 9 people lose $1. the economy gained a dollar but I think most people lost, don't you? A Gross Median Product would be a better measure of how the economy is doing. Americans are working hard and long and don't see their families. Or as Robert Reich calls it DINS (dual income, no sex). does anyone else think Inflation is way to high, espcially since the one the media uses does not include food. Waht else do we buy? LOL.

I for one am much more interested in the opinion of everyday folks, people who really feel the burden on their checkbook, than established Keynesian economists regurgitating useless figures in an attempt to assure us that, despite the pain we're seeing day after day, every thing's really all right.

We've been trying to control the economy for far too long. The market is about to correct itself, and it's not going to be pretty.

It sucks to make less money, but I hope that at least this issue will help Hillary Clinton, who actually has some ideas about how to run the country instead of just hot air.

Go, Hillary! Please get your stuff together for Iowa!

I remember all too well "Saint Regan's" recession. I was a single mom, working, and I RECALL what that was like. THIS is not like that YET. BUT we are moving in that direction rapidly. For many, we are there. NOW. This economy is tanking, there's no doubt. But only for the middle and under classes (and I'm speaking finances, not any other issue).

What's frightening to me is that so many are really struggling and it's a downward slide now.

It's ANOTHER Bu$h fiasco, unless you are of the "guilded bathroom set".

It is ANOTHER ON A LONG LIST of reasons to impeach. Again, NOW!!!!!!!!

This is my favorite. Those with money never say we are in a recession and those without sometimes feel like it.

When the stock market is down it doesn't mean anything, but when the market is up it means the economy is booming.

When jobs were lost it was no big deeal but when jobs are added the economy is booming.

When foreclosures are at an all time high it means nothing, but when everyone was buying houses the economy was booming.

I love the post about "real negative growth". Let's face the facts. The numbers are ALWAYS manipulated to state your position.

Fact, there was a surplus when Clinton left office. Fact, there was a terrorist attack on 9/11 that shook up the country. Fact, we rightfully invaded Afghanistan to wipe out the terrorist training camps. Fact, we invaded Iraq based on faulty intelligence.

Fact, Iraq took our eye off Afghanistan where the Taliban is currently resurging. Fact, half of the terrorists on 9/11 were from Saudi Arabia and they have not been invaded by the US.

Fact, the Iraq war, which has cost billions, some of which has been completely lost and unnaccounted for, has turned the surplus into a giant deficit.

Fact, the government raised the debt ceiling to help finance the war. Fact, much of our debt is held in China, which is a communist country.

Fact, we still support an embargo on a tiny country called Cuba because they are communist.

Fact, the dollar is sinking against all foreign currencies, the euro, the candian dollar, etc.

Fact, free trade has cost American jobs in many places like Detroit.

Fact, healthcare is spiraling out of control and the US continues to support a for-profit health care system that survives on denials rather than caring for people.

In the next 10 years the cost of health care and housing will drive the middle class down while the rich get richer on the Bush tax cuts. They will continue to receive health care and housing with no worries while guys like Romney and his millions pretend they know what its like in middle America. A guy whose father was governor and ran for president has no idea what its like in the real world.

Was he successful? No doubt. Is his mormanism a problem? It shouldn't be. Middle class America should be wary of voting for him because he's a plastic politician in the mold of John Kerry. He even comes with built in flip flopping technology. He will say anything to get elected.

So tell me, with all of the indicators are we in a recession? People losing their homes and jobs would certainly think so.

Most of us spend too much money to keep up with the Joneses , then call it a "bad economy"

Liberal media tries hard to avoid the war and how good it's going for the USA but try to get us to focus on something that is not broken. Always trying to help out the democrats, that's why I love you CNN.

If people are losing confidence in the economy now, just wait until tens of millions of us are hit with surprise Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) bills from the IRS this spring.

I'm not sure if you received this thought from myself,or not. americans need to wake up! Our Government needs to wake up, Our recession that we all are feeling, is primary due to this" President WAR".Borrowing money from china. Imagine if the US borrowed money from the USSR during the Viet Nam war.First we started to send our well paying jobs to mexico Now to China. I can't help wondering how our chiefs of staff ,felt like,when China told them what our military can do. I'm quite sure their already telling our corp. what they can do.Apparently this administration Is following China rules.I"M sure the Republicans will blame PRESIDENT CLINTON on Tafta, you check your history this agreement was set in motion long before President clinton came into power.,

If you are in the Mortgage and Real Estate business, your in a recession.

Posted By tm Riverside, CA : December 11, 2007 4:41 pm

Not true!! If you are in the commercial segment of real estate business, it's one of the best times.

We haven't had even one quarter of real negative economic growth….

But I guess that doesn't matter because now all serious economic analysis is done wholly by public opinion polling!

What in the world?

Seriously, I'm not sure what this article should be filed under. News? Hysteria?

To those who think the American ppl are stupid, please remember that expectations are just as important to economic outcomes than data. If people believe that we're in a recession, they alter their spending to spend less and thus hurt the economy. So to those who are so critical of those polled, please remember that they are just as important to your livelihood as the institutions and individuals you think are so much more intelligent

GDP grew at 4.9% last quarter, the fastest growth in 4 years…

Whew! What a recession!

CNN,

It'd be great if you took the next obvious step and defined a recession for us… as another poster mentions, most people don't know a thing about economics. I'm no expert on the media, but isn't it your job to inform the people? After all, the definition of a recession isn't a matter of someone's opinion, it's factual definition.

The ignorant masses don't have to understand the economy to feel the pain of the ecoonomy.

Bush's tax cuts caused deficit spending which drove the fed to manipulate interest rate which led to inflation which made the middle and lower class workers dollar buy less…

IT WASN"T A TAX CUT! It's wealth redistribution through inflationary pressure!

"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible, make violent revolution inevitable" - JFK

How bad does it have to get before YOU will do something.

RESTORE THE FRAKKEN REPUBLIC ALREADY!

Why not ask the same 1,002 people their learned opinion of quantum physics, the principles of biochemistry, molecular science, or even Chinese arithmetic, since most Americans don't understand those things either?

Howard from NY said it best: how about a poll of economists, or maybe even just MBAs?

See, this is an OPINION poll, not a KNOWLEDGE or SKILL SET poll. The pollster is seeking not what a person KNOWS, but rather, how the respondent FEELS.

Well, how about asking these same 1,002 Fulbright Scholars what they think of American Idol… at least ask them something with which they may be knowledgeable and qualified to state an opinion.

Howard, NY

Come to Michigan and you will be able to see more square feet of vacant and/or abandoned industrial real estate, office space and housing than probably anywhere else in this country.
And it's not just limited to the Detroit area. I don't need an economist to tell me what I can see for myself.

98% of all statistics are made up, right there, on the spot.

tm Riverside, CA

And if you live in Michigan you are in a depression. And we owe it all to Republican Free Trade Extremism.

WE are headed for a recession. When you have people living off their houses with very little or nothing in savings, then you know we are headed for it. Some sections of the country are already there, just ask the folks in Southern California, Las Vegas,
Florida, to name a few. Here in the 'good ol' midwest' not so much.

It is the economy, stupid. And the other part of this equation is the stupid war which has caused a huge public debt problem. A troubled economy always favors the democrats. The republicans have nearly always caused problems with the economy. I find it utterly amazing that the democrats are always tagged with the tax and spend label, let's call the republicans the debt and deficiet spenders. They don't want to raise taxes but they would rather borrow the money and spend more then they borrow. No wonder we are in so much trouble.

CNN - you continually provide useless reports of how people "feel". You commit great time and statistics to how 1002 adults "feel" about the economy but ZERO facts regarding current economic indicators.

Is this country in a recession? NO.

Are there some in this country who are having a hard time? Sure.

Welcome to the real world. WHEN the country gets into a recession - let us know. Otherwise your continued skewing of anectodal evidence only perpetuates your incompetent reporting.

Ah, there you go again Wayne from Texas (say it ain't so!)… another brilliant one-liner with no facts to back it up.

Most of the folks I know that complain about the economy are the same people who don't save, spend their money on pointless material possessions like ipods, make needless purchases with credit cards, and don't care to further their own careers through higher education or by working harder. Then, they expect the government to make up the difference.

People, I have a child with a lifelong ailment, cerebral palsy, and the medical expenses (even with good insurance) are sometimes enormous. Yet, my family continues to make ends meet, even with my middle-class income, and without ANY assistance from the government. So forgive me for the following: QUIT COMPLAINING AND START TAKING RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOURSELF. Not everything is Bush's fault, you know.

It's great when we poll Americans on issues that most of us don't understand. How about a poll of economists?

Rem It's the Economy, stupid?
Are we better off now after Bush?
Were we better off under Clinton?
What happend to that Clinton surplus?
The economy will be a biggie this election cycle.

Last time I checked we are having economy problems because of this STUPID WAR that Like 600 Trillion Dollars ? who do you think is paying for that?

CNN you need Help

For those concerned about a recession (and which of us is not?) I would direct your attention to a bill currently before the House and Senate (HR25 and S25)known as the "fair tax bill." For those not familiar with the Fair Tax and its ability to reverse recession and at the same time help susbstantially reduce our national debt
please visit http://www.fairtax.org on the web. Now is the time to see which of the presidential candidates is willing to make the Fair Tax their priority.

If you are in the Mortgage and Real Estate business, your in a recession.

The other half are caled "Republicans".

Yellow journalism is alive and well.

50 percent of Americans have a less than average understanding of how the economy works. And very few Americans have ANY understanding of how the economy works, so what use is a public opinion poll? How many of these people even save for retirement?