The Normal Expenses Are the Toughest

The spectacle of swooning stock prices is scarcely a boon to consumers’ confidence, but does it impinge on most Americans’ finances? An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll of registered voters suggests not. Just one-third said the state of their investments in the stock market affects them either “a great deal” (21 percent) or “quite a bit” (12 percent). Nearly as many said it touches them “just some” (18 percent) or “very little” (11 percent), while more said the question doesn’t apply to them (36 percent).