What is Occupy Wallstreet?

[kandrathe]

Um, is it? It sounds to me like it's indexed to last year - which tells us nothing about the overall state of demand, unless it can be presumed that last year was normal. Which, in these times, is a dangerous assumption.

It is a measure of year over year growth, so it continuously retains it's value as an index. If the economy resets to 2006 levels, then grows to 2007 levels, this index would still reflect growth. It's value is only as a leading indicator of economic growth (strength). So, in mathematical terms, it is more of a 2nd or 3rd level derivative, not measuring position, but velocity, or acceleration.

What do the index values represent?

The index values are relative to the same period one year ago. An index value of 100 on any date indicates consumers showing the same level of interest in purchases as on that same date one year earlier. Thus an index of 105 indicates an increase in consumer interest of 5% relative to the same date a year earlier. An index of 95 would similarly indicate a 5% decrease in interest relative to the same period in the prior year.

Or am I missing something? I'm still not sure what this exactly *is*, other than "an index."

They collect indexes (housing, automotive, food, etc) across the spectrum of consumer purchases, and make a master index that is more predictive of consumer "interest". Since consumer's are key to purchasing products that businesses sell, they are a leading indicator of economic growth. It is more than a survey of consumer sentiment, it is a measure of consumer demand.