Is the Consumer Confidence Index an Economic Smoking Gun?

The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index took an unexpected cliff-dive today, as the index dropped 11 points to 46, from last month's 56 level and and expected reading of 55.9 for this month.  The "Present Situation Index" component dropped to its lowest reading in 27 years.  This component of the index is derived from the consumer's view of current business conditions and the job market. The short-term outlook also dropped hard, as consumers expressed pessismism about job prospects and anxiety over keeping a job.

Clearly, this datapoint is in direct conflict with the manipulated Government data that's being released and with the "soft-sell" optimism eminating from our President and Fed policy-makers - collectively a.k.a. now known as "The Oracle of Orwell in DC."

The key is to look at what is really going on beneath the Orwellian veneer that's been liberally applied and highly polished by the Fed, Wall Street and the Obama Administration.  Here is a good example of reality:  Mass layoffs surge in January, highest level since July 2009:  Link from Zerohedge.com; or how about the fact that mortgage delinquency rates hit a new record high in January:  Link from Bloomberg;  or perhaps the explosive commercial real estate disaster has people worried:  Link from CNN.

I'm not even scratching the surface on a whole viper's nest of fundamental economic problems which are converging all at once.  Some of these include the growing State unemployment insurance fund deficits rapidly expanding in several States, the rapidly growing FDIC funding deficit, and the fact that there is a growing number of people who have become perpetually dependent on continued extension of unemployment benefits by the Federal Government, which now stands at 2 1/2 years.

All things considered, I'm surprised the Conference Board confidence index was still in the 40's.