Retail sales in October fell by the most, well, ever on record....

[marmar]

U.S. Retail Sales Drop in October by Most on Record (Update2)

By Shobhana Chandra

Nov. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Retail sales in the U.S. dropped in October by the most on record, pushing the economy toward the worst slump in decades.

The 2.8 percent decrease was the fourth consecutive drop and the biggest since records began in 1992, the Commerce Department said today in Washington. Purchases excluding automobiles also posted their worst performance.

Spending may continue to falter as mounting job losses, plunging stocks and falling home values leave household finances in tatters. Retailers from Best Buy Co. to Nordstrom Inc. are cutting revenue forecasts ahead of what may be the worst holiday shopping season in six years.

``We are in the eye of the storm,'' said James O'Sullivan, a senior economist at UBS Securities LLC in Stamford, Connecticut, who accurately projected the decline in sales. ``The recession is clearly intensifying. The next few months will look pretty bad. The fourth quarter will be even weaker.''

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said at a conference today in Frankfurt that continuing strains in financial markets and recent economic data ``confirm that challenges remain.'' He said central bankers worldwide ``stand ready to take additional steps'' as warranted. ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a.mJ00L822UE&refer=home

[NC_Nurse]

1. Finally, even the high enders like Nordstrom's are feeling it.

I wondered when it would hit the wealthy and their fav stores. Looks like it has.

[ComtesseDeSpair]

2. Ah yes...

that great staple of Raygunomics: the trickle-up effect!

[tanyev]

5. They're sure going to miss the end of Sarah's RNC shopping sprees.

[NC_Nurse]

7. Poor Needless Markup!

:cry: The ranks of the fashionista Repub women are thinning. :evilgrin:

[DemoTex]

3. I went to Sears at the mall yesterday to return some Land's End stuff ..

Sears was absolutely dead. The mall was absolutely dead. It reminded me of a Moscow department store I visited in the 1980s: dreary, gray, bleak, and very soviet.

[Mari333]

4. I foretold this to my union husband back in the 80s

when Reagan admin started breaking up the unions and gave all those huge tax breaks to corporations with the promise that they would rebuild america. Instead, they used the money from the tax breaks to move their factories and jobs overseas . (My first husband was killed in a chemical plant explosion and it was deemed the company had hired non union workers who were ill trained who helped cause the malfunction at the plant )
I told my husband back then
'You know, they can move their operations and jobs overseas, but, in time, there will be no workers with decent wages left here to buy their products and eventually this short term profit they are accruing will come back and bite them in the arse'.
I guess thats what I am seeing now.
I know I am not buying anything. The only person getting christmas this yr is my one yr old grandson, and thats it. everyone else gets homemade fudge and applesauce. I count myself lucky I can even do that right now.

[The2ndWheel]

6. If we plan on doing anything about that climate change stuff

we can't have an economy based on consumption, especially mass produced consumption. We'll have to actually change the way we live on the planet, not just change what we consume, or change the color of what we consume, or call what we consume something different, etc.