The US economy is driven by consumer spending and hence the government is hell bent on improving the consumer confidence in their future and also their perception about the future of the economy. But the high rate of unemployment coupled with weak housing market conditions seem to be badly hurting the consumer confidence.
The February 2010 reading of the US consumer confidence index has hit a 10 month low due to the above factors.
The US government might have to work very hard to pull back the confidence to healthy levels in the coming months. Any further deterioration in the consumer confidence index would be very harmful for the economy as a whole.