While the increase in economic growth raised consumer confidence and spread a positive glow over the country, internal political strife fixed national attention on domestic events.
To raise consumer confidence, maybe the Federal Reserve should pay for free massages and other mood enhancers for the nation's journalists.
There have been fledgling signs of growth: home sales and chain store sales are up a bit; a swelling equities market has raised consumer confidence a few notches; and jobless claims fell noticeably last week, albeit they are still quite high.
Investors will find themselves with an estimated €10 billion at their disposal, which is certain to raise consumer confidence ahead of an imminent general election.Yet just four months ago, with the disclosure of a financial scandal, Mr Ahern's future was looking bleak and his party's re-election prospects were in the balance.
It also invokes the confidence fairy; that is, it suggests that cuts in public spending will stimulate private spending by raising consumer and business confidence, leading to economic expansion.
Last year, for example, the bank affirmed its belief in the confidence fairy — that is, the claim that budget cuts in a depressed economy will actually promote expansion, by raising business and consumer confidence.
Economists were raising their growth projections, consumer confidence was improving and a tax-cut compromise in Congress was putting more cash into pocketbooks.
Stock prices climbed again yesterday after investors were heartened by an unexpectedly strong report on consumer confidence, raising some hopes that personal spending will revive the weakened economy.
Even though weekly jobless claims have leveled off, widespread weakness among manufacturers is likely to push the unemployment rate up further, raising the specter that consumer confidence could crack and drive down spending.
Lew said that failure to lift the limit in time could "cause serious harm to business and consumer confidence, raise short-term borrowing costs for taxpayers, and negatively impact the credit rating of the United States".
