America's Favorite Wrong Number

In a Substack Fine Print column, I write about how Every month since 1967, the Conference Board has asked about 3,000 households how they feel about buying a new refrigerator. That data becomes the Consumer Confidence Index (CCI). The CCI is part of the economic indicator alphabet—cited by the Fed, tracked by Wall Street, and reported by the media—because it produces a number that signals how consumers might shop on Black Friday. But unlike CPI, GDP, or unemployment data—generated by the U.S. government—the CCI is a private product. Owned and produced by the Conference Board, an independent, non-governmental entity.The government handles “hard data.” The Conference Board handles feelings.