American Consumers are not yet experiencing warm and fuzzy feelings about the economy and more importantly their own finances. Even though there have been some small signs that the economic crunch is ending, it has not taken off so as to trickle down to consumers at this point. In fact, some say they are worse off, not better. Here are some statistics that bear this out.

In recent consumer polling by a leading consumer organization, consumers have reported that in the last 30 days almost 38 percent of American families have had at least one bad money event. These are big things, too, like missing medical bill payments, losing a job or being laid off, seeing a reduction in their health care coverage, and missing payments on everything except mortgage accounts.

While most people prefer to look at the bright side (and you can always find things to be thankful for), this poll emphasizes that real relief has not yet arrived for those who are making less than $50,000 per year.

Because of this, consumer attitudes are declining, not going up. It clearly shows that economic hard times are still a major drain on family finances.  Another indicator that things are still pretty grim is that there are very small signs of increases in consumer buying trends. Only things like personal electronics and appliances showed small increases in August 2009 compared to previous months. Everything else has remained in a flat line position.

Financial stress continues to rule most households. An index of consumers stress levels shows a score of just over 65 percent. This is up over numbers from a year ago.

What this means is that families still need to continue their austere financial actions in hopes of riding out this financial storm. Once the economy begins to improve in a way that begins to show up in the wallets of Americans, then we will see more positive attitudes along with a willingness to spend more money.

It also shows the resilience of the American consumer. Even though things are tight and they might be experiencing some of those bad financial events, they are still able to feed and clothe their families (for the most part) and are finding ways to make ends meet. And, there are still resources out there to help those who have experienced a major crash like a mortgage foreclosure. Things will get better – it’s just a matter of time.

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