A sad Christmas for retailers

Retail stores are desperate to lure shoppers during the worst holiday shopping season ever, except for the Great Depression, are cutting prices to the bone and keeping their stores open thru midnight. As the most severe recession in the last quarter century intensifies, our jobless rate is rising. This means there will be fewer consumers in the next quarter to buy from retail stores. Stores expect already weak sales to become even more so, leading to the soft summer of 2009.

Many people blame real estate for the mess we are in. Others say that things can't get worse. Well, the can and they will. Real estate prices will go down, more banks will fail, and financial armageddon will hit.