Comrades with keyboards, I need your help.

First, allow me to stipulate three points:

1) As I will show in a moment, the share of the country that thinks we are on the “wrong track” is historically very high.

2) The ’08 presidential debate will generate some good ideas to get us on the right track.

3) These ideas may or may not come to fruition.

So, the question becomes: what has to happen to ensure that progressive changes have at least a fighting chance?

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Good morning, all. It’s a gorgeous day in the nation’s capital, I’m already hyper-caffeinated, so let’s talk economics!

Specifically, there were a number of interesting pieces out today amplifying and challenging our discussion about where the economy might be headed.

First, note the NYT editorial which echoes the story I told last week. Add to that a note out from Merrill Lynch this AM telling us that according to the International Council of Shopping Centers, same store sales were down 2.4% from last year, the biggest drop since the trade group began tracking the data in 1970. Adding a bit of analysis, the ML folks point out that the slumping components of sales are the cyclical ones, i.e., not food and medicine, but clothes, furniture, electronics, etc. That’s the pattern you’d see in down economy.

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