Barack Obama has rescued America from Economic Disaster

[Strix]

These came out yesterday; mixed news, or take a bit from recession recovery. I guess with the retail sales drop it was mitigated by the rise in auto sales, but was a pretty bad time for other retailers.   

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32400126/ns/business-stocks_and_economy/
Weekly jobless claims rise unexpectedly
Four-week moving average rises; continuing claims drop sharply

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32399822/ns/business-retail/
Retail sales post surprise drop for July
Unexpected drop raises worries about consumer spending

What I find interesting is that gas prices are rapidly rising, at least where I live, and there is no mention of it. It's gone from around $2.50 a gallon to $2.85 in less than a month. Last time gas got this high the media was predicting doom and gloom.

Yet, not a peep even though Bush got slammed hard over the same thing happening when he was President.

I wonder how much it's affecting consumers.

[garbon]

What I find interesting is that gas prices are rapidly rising, at least where I live, and there is no mention of it. It's gone from around $2.50 a gallon to $2.85 in less than a month. Last time gas got this high the media was predicting doom and gloom.

Yet, not a peep even though Bush got slammed hard over the same thing happening when he was President.

I wonder how much it's affecting consumers.

Yeah I was mentioning that the other week to someone. It's like other things have gotten so bad that we aren't going to go back to our leisurely role of complaining about gas prices.

[Sheilbh]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32399822/ns/business-retail/
Retail sales post surprise drop for July
Unexpected drop raises worries about consumer spending

Retail will follow on from credit card defaults (which have increased a lot in the US) and unemployment.  It'll probably be a dreadful summer for retail but I think this autumn and Christmas could be better than last year.