No sooner had the president charged that those who claimed the economy is in trouble were “peddling fiction” than U.S. stocks posted their worst ten-day start to a year in history. Walmart announced it was closing 154 stores in the U.S. putting 10,000 U.S. jobs on the block. (It also was closing over one hundred of its stores in Brazil.) Macy’s announced it was closing 36 stores and 27 Kmart and Sears stores were also to be shuttered. True, some of this reflected the change in shopping habits with more consumers buying merchandise online, but from the barrage of emails I receive daily from retailers online cutting prices, I think it’s likely that the entire tranche -- retail sales -- suffered mightily last year, and I expect to see that big dip reflected in their fourth quarter reports. Consumers simply are running out of money to buy things. To be sure, the global economy is shaky right now. China leads the way down and with it a glut of...(Read Full Article)