More Than...Less Than...

"Retail sale in U.S. rose less than forecasted."

Retail sales rose a weak .1% in February. Consumer spending continues to slow as job growth declines and tons of Americans are put in a crunch because of the housing slowdown. This statistic might now seem like as big of a deal as some others, but I beg to differ, and Mr. Bernanke begs to differ.

If you recall, Mr Bernanke said that he expects mid-year GDP growth to increase a little mainly because of consumer spending. This is not an exact quote, but he essentially said that the economy is riding on the wings of consumer spending, and that consumer spending will carry us through the recessions in manufacturing and housing. It looks like consumer spending is losing altitude and won't be flying so high in the future. This have harsh results on the economy and I expect GDP growth to continue to decline.