Who're You Gonna Believe?

The Wall Street-Washington nexus either thinks there is no recession or is already anticipating the next upturn in the economic cycle.

Meanwhile, ordinary working folks and those who are trying to keep their businesses humming, or even afloat, are seeing no real evidence that conditions are improving, and are wondering just how bad things are going to get.

My question is: who're you gonna believe?

Based on the following report from Investment News, "Recession Is Upon Us, Americans Say," I'll be sticking with the views of the latter group, which has been right all along.

A whopping 79% of Americans believe that the United States is in a recession, a poll released today suggests.

That’s up from 74% in March and 66% in February, according to a national CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll conducted April 28-30. ORC is based in Princeton, N.J.

Six months go, 46% people surveyed thought they were in a recession, according to a poll conducted by Atlanta-based Cable News Network.

The reason for the bleak economic outlook is the weak job and housing markets, as well as high energy prices, according to the survey.