Economic Confidence Plummets as Gov’t Shutdown Begins: Gallup

As the October 17th date for a default gets closer it is probably safe to assume that the economic confidence reading still has some distance to fall. The U.S. Treasury’s report on the macroeconomic effects of a potential default was released on Thursday, calling the threat of a default “catastrophic.”

Gallup noted:

How much lower economic confidence might fall over the days and weeks ahead depends on what the Congress ends up doing in regard to both the current government shutdown and the looming debt ceiling deadline on Oct. 17. One glimmer of more positive news is the fact that after a similar plummet in confidence during the August 2011 debt ceiling crisis, confidence regained its previous footing within several months.

Given the news out of Washington, we are unlikely yet to have seen the bottom to Americans’ confidence in the economy.