September 14 Listless consumers put the brakes on August spending (The Washington Times)

“The most important driving force for our current economy is that people will not increase their spending until their balance sheets are repaired and their houses are no longer underwater,” said Dean Croushore, an economics professor at the University of Richmond.

The huge debt overhang from the past decade’s housing boom and bust is something “the government is not able to fix, so we should expect slow economic growth for several years to come,” he said.