The continued decline in home prices is driving down consumer confidence as well.

The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index plunged to 50.4 this month, hurt by inflation, sinking home values and soaring gas prices. It was the lowest reading since February 1992 and half what it was a year ago.

The index dropped more steeply than expected from 58.1 in May. Economists surveyed by Thomson/IFR had expected the report, released Tuesday, to show a more modest decline to 56.5 for June.

Inflation, political flux and job insecurity have created an ”uncertainty more acute, perhaps, than any time since 9/11,” said William Hummer, chief economist at Wayne Hummer Investments in Chicago.

U.S. home prices tumbled in April at the fastest rate since a widely followed index was begun in 2000. All 20 metro areas surveyed posted annual declines for the first time.

People are nervous, and value is disintegrating as their confidence wanes.

Rep, Bart Stupak has introduced the Pump Act, to try and stop excessive speculation in the commodities market.

Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Michigan, said that oil industry experts have agreed that speculation is causing $35 a barrel of price increases. Oil is now a financial asset. Commodity trading is now a massive market that is creating havoc in the markets and high consumer prices.

Stupak wants to end excessive speculation in crude oil. Check out the whole video from C-Span. His arguments are certainly compelling. The rise in commodity index funds is driving the price of commodities up worldwide.

Stupak has received broad support for his PUMP Act.