Ups And Downs - Or Neither

As the recession drags on, one would expect consumers to exhibit increasing nervousness about their own finances. On the whole, though, it hasn’t happened—yet. The figures in the chart below, drawn from a study by the Pew Center for the People & the Press, aren’t significantly different from those of a year ago. For that matter, they’re only a bit gloomier than the findings of polls conducted amid the boom years of the 1990s. Asked how easy it is “to afford the things in life that you want,” 5 percent said “very easy” and 44 percent said “easy,” vs.