US consumers, these days, are a glum lot. Thee Conference Board’s index of consumer confidence decreased to 60.6 from a revised 65.4 in July. The 4.8-point decrease was the biggest since October. The reading was less than the most pessimistic forecast in a Bloomberg survey in which the median projection was 66. Why the dour outlook? Rising gasoline prices, a jobless rate that’s been above 8% since the start of 2009 and limited income gains are keeping consumers down. Analysts note that persi...