The American dream appears increasingly elusive to the average citizen, with the CNBC All-America Economic Surveyfinding continued high levels of pessimism in the nation’s outlook for incomes, home values and the future of the economy.
After trillions of dollars were put to work for monetary and fiscal stimulus, just 8 percent of the nation views the economy as excellent or good and 92 percent see it as fair or poor, little changed from a year ago.
But just 37 percent of the public believes the economy will improve in the next year, down five points from a year ago. Taken together, the combined percentage of Americans who are pessimistic about the economy now and for the next year is at the second highest for the three-year life of the CNBC survey.