FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
More Americans say they're thriving than struggling for the first time since February 2008. A Gallup poll found that in April, 50 percent of Americans said they were thriving and 47 percent said they were struggling.
Ever since last spring, the opposite had been the case, with more people struggling, and that trend only got worse as the financial crisis affected more people. The percentage of Americans thriving hit a low of 37 percent last November.
Gallup says that the percentage of Americans who are thriving seems to increase in relation to those who say their standard of living is getting better. April was also the first month since last summer that the percentage of Americans who thought their standard of living was improving topped those who thought it was getting worse.
If people's attitudes about the economy and their personal financial situation continue to improve, these things could be a leading indicator that Americans are mentally bouncing back from the shock of the recession.
And if that happens, it could possibly lead to a turnaround in consumer spending - something that business owners across the country have been waiting for and something that has to happen in order for the economy to turn around.
Here's my question to you: What does it mean if more Americans are "thriving" than "struggling" for the first time in more than a year?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
W. writes:
Everyone I know is struggling, and as I see it, there is no end in sight. The government is looking for ways to keep taxing us, and just yesterday the Senate shot down a bill to cap credit card rates. So basically, the middle class is still being sucked dry.
B. writes:
I don't know about anyone else, but here we’re struggling – unless that $250 check I got was supposed to put me in the thriving class. If that’s the case, then I guess I'm thriving. I have a feeling more people will be saying struggling when the car companies are done closing all these dealerships.
Karl from San Francisco writes:
It means we are getting past the Bush depression and the Obama plan is working. This is as much a mental attitude adjustment as it is a financial one. We are now full of hope and the reality of it is coming true. It can only get better.
Dick from Horn Lake, Mississippi writes:
It means the Obama spin machine has made silk purses out of pigs' ears. The liberals won, but they had to destroy the economy to do it. Moveon.org, George Soros, the unions and ACORN will now put their massive propaganda machinery to work telling us we have never had it so good. If you need the map, look at Hugo Chavez.
Art writes:
While it is just a number and today we're searching for numbers that make us happy, it is a number that may make us want to spend money again. We need confidence, nothing more.
Mark from Oklahoma City writes:
It means that the Post Office is delivering stimulus checks on time.
Roman from Butler, Pennsylvania writes:
I'm not exactly thriving. I'd say more like struggling. I want to know who's being asked these questions, because they're not talking to me. Ha.