Here is an epiphany for those still clamoring to stimulate consumer spending: people who are over-extended on credit and under-employed, or unemployed, do not do a lot of shopping.
America's job market stats provide the catalyst for a secular shift down in retail sales:
-- Over 8 million jobs have been lost since the recession "officially" began in December 2007.
-- 14.6 million Americans are out of work. It will take several years to replace the jobs that are now missing.
-- 6.6 million Americans have been out of work six months or longer.