Reply #2: Oh, bullshit

[BeyondGeography]

Bullshit on top of bullshit, actually.

<Weak April retail sales bring May jitters>

<...Those factors include the weak housing market and the fallout from high-risk mortgages during the boom years. Some industry watchers also are raising concerns about gas prices, which are threatening to hit $4 a gallon in the coming weeks. Americans also are facing longer-term financial issues such as increasing credit card and other types of debt, and extraordinarily low rates of personal savings.

“When you put all this together, it starts to look to me like a very scary situation for the consumer, structurally,” said Howard Davidowitz, chairman of the retail consulting and investment banking firm Davidowitz & Associates Inc. “In other words, to me, the customer is spent up.”>

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18592826/