KEY POINTS:
Most Americans expect a recession within a year, a new Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times poll says.
Six in 10 surveyed predicted a recession, similar to the 64 per cent who anticipated the economy would contract in a December 2000 poll by the Los Angeles Times three months before the last decline.
In this survey, 71 per cent of those earning less than US$40,000 ($55,000) expected a recession compared with about half for those making more than US$100,000.
"We're living on borrowed time," said Andrew Herring, 43, a chemical engineering professor at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado. "We spend ridiculous amounts of money on the [Iraq] war and now we have issues with the housing market."
Some 57 per cent disapproved of President George W. Bush's handling of the economy and 38 per cent approved, his worst showing in eight months. Although 57 per cent said the economy was doing well that was 11 points down from January.
The Department of Labour reported on April 6 that the economy added 180,000 new jobs in March and the unemployment rate fell to 4.4 per cent, matching October's five-year low. On the minus side, petrol prices have risen 29 per cent since January and the housing market has cooled.
Sixty-four per cent said their own finances were very or fairly secure compared with 35 per cent who described them as shaky. Americans were also split over tax cuts becoming permanent.
- BLOOMBERG
