American consumer seems resilient despite slew of so-so economic news

As consumers, economists keep telling us, we are getting more confident. But are we happy? As we near the holidays, always touted as make-or-break time for retailers, everyone’s watching to see if the hangover of a recession, followed by a so-called “jobless recovery,” will result in a penny-pitching shopper or not.

The economic impact of consumer spending is huge, says Murat Iyigun, an economics professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Out of the $10 trillion U.S. economy, “two thirds, about $7 trillion, is accounted for by household consumption,” he explains. Business investment, which stalled in the downturn, is about 15…