Sometimes, what's lost can never be fully regained, especially when it comes to trust. The latest issue of the Chicago Booth/Kellogg School Financial Trust Index finds that only 23 percent of Americans say they trust the country's financial system. Faith in banks continues its downward slope.
"We are continuing to report relatively low trust overall, hovering at the same level as our last quarterly report and as low as the earliest months of the economic crisis. In particular, trust in banks has continued to fall — now at 30 percent from 39 percent in June 2011," said Paola Sapienza, co-author of the Financial Trust Index, a quarterly look at trust in America's financial system, in a prepared statement.
Among those surveyed in December, the numbers are not impressive — just 16 percent had trust in the stock market, 30 percent in mutual funds and 17 percent large corporations.
Worse still, 62 percent pretty much said they are as mad as hell (angry or very angry) about the current economic situation.
"This is the highest level of anger we've measured since March 2009," said Sapienza. "In an election year, this certainly indicates the importance of the economy to the political agenda."
However, despite the discontent, according to the survey, Americans aren't hopeless. Fifty percent said they believe a significant stock market drop is likely, down from a high of 55 percent in September 2011.
On the housing front, there was also some optimism. The percentage of people who said they thought house prices would drop in the next 12 months is 23 percent, compared to 33 percent in September. Nearly 80 percent said they expect housing prices to remain stable or increase, which is up from 67 percent in September.
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