(AP) -- From Stockton to Miami, from ritzy Las Vegas to gritty Detroit, cities with the worst real estate markets led the U.S. economy into recession.
Skidding home prices and soaring foreclosures have magnified the broader woes of unemployment, stock market turmoil and hard-to-get Loans.
So holiday shoppers are making a list, checking it twice and then scratching off the non-essentials.
Retail sales fell by almost 2 percent in November. It was the fifth month in a row, a period of weakness never before seen on the government's retail sales records.
The housing market, the economy, the auto industry - the list is enough to stress out any merchant. And the shoppers are even more harried.
Just ask the Santa Claus at one Detroit-area mall. The kids are fine, he says, but the parents are nuts.
(Copyright ©2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
