You're right, SB. It's amazing how much has changed in the past 6 months, and especially the last two years.

Anecdote #1: I took the kids to Chuck E Cheese's this past weekend. It wasn't quite a ghost town, but almost. I asked, "How's business?"

The answer: "Terrible. It's normally twice as busy. People just aren't SPENDING like they used to."

"When did this drop off begin?"

"It was right around Easter. Ever since, it's just been dead."

So, there we have it - even the teenage workers at Chuck E. Cheese's are Keynesians. GREAT.

Anecdote #2: The parking lot at Sam's Club (a discount warehouse) has not been this full since Christmas of '06. But this only lasted for a few weeks, and is now tapering off.

Anecdote #3: I drive a lot for my small business (over 24K miles per annum, and I have NEVER seen so many police pulling people over for speeding violations. It's truly ridiculous. They are preying on people to save state budgets in EVERY state I visit, and the cops want the bonus money. VA, MD, DE, PA, NJ, DC are all in the act. It's just not safe to speed anymore!