Consumer Sales Plummet, While McCain Spends Time Attacking Obama. Poll Finds People Want Answers, Hope Instead of Attacks from McCain.

WASHINGTON - Retail sales fell off a cliff in September, plunging by the largest amount in three years as worried consumers shunned the malls and auto showrooms in the midst of the country's financial meltdown. The bigger-than-expected decline significantly increased the risks of a recession because consumer spending is two-thirds of total economic activity.

TPJ: This on the verge of the holiday season when many businesses count on for a large portion of their annual sales. The NRF noted that the holiday season represents 25 to 40 percent of annual sales for many retailers. About the only business sector that will see an increase in this economy will be alcohol sales because people drink when times are good and drink when times are bad. However, John McCain is going negative with weak character attacks on Barack Obama despite this consumer spending news and how it could further plunge the economy into an abyss.

After several weeks in which the McCain campaign unleashed a series of strong political attacks on Mr. Obama, trying to tie him to a former 1960s radical, among other things, the poll found that more voters see Mr. McCain as waging a negative campaign than Mr. Obama. Six in 10 voters surveyed said that Mr. McCain had spent more time attacking Mr. Obama than explaining what he would do as president; by about the same number, voters said Mr. Obama was spending more of his time explaining than attacking. The campaign [McCain] also has devoted virtually 100 percent of its advertising budget to running negative ads.

"And while McCain has promised to attack Obama in the debate, every minute that he ignores the economy and the middle class is not just a minute wasted but time spent on attacks that even some of those closest to him have said don’t work." "But after two debates in which John McCain didn’t mention the middle class once – and after his campaign declared openly that they want to turn the page on talking about the economy – the real question is not how many attacks McCain can land in the debate, but whether he can finally communicate a vision to turn this economy around,"

UPDATE: The DOW dropped some 700 points today and with the losses from the past two days we have pretty much wiped out the historic 900 point gain earlier in the week. Again, why should we elect a candidate (McCain) who by his own admission doesn't know much about the economy?

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