The Stimulus vs. Recovery Race Heats Up

Yes, it is but one element of our current misery, and we still got a long way to go. But after contemplating the chart Nick Gillespie posted yesterday about the timing of government anti-recession measures vs. when recessions ended anyway, was interesting to read this today:

U.S. retail sales jumped 1 percent in January, reversing a six-month declining trend and defying economists' expectations by posting the biggest increase in 14 months.

The Commerce Department says January retail sales rose a percent from December after having fallen for six straight months. Wall Street economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters had expected January sales to show a drop of 0.8 percent. They plunged 2.7 percent in December, which had the weakest holiday selling season since at least 1969.