Retail sales came in higher than generally expected in August, with non-car sales rising 1.1 percent from July. This statistic is less impressive than it seems. If gas sales are taken out of the picture, then the increase in August was just half as large. If we look over the last two months, the rise in non-auto sales, excluding gas, has been less than 0.2 percent. This is not the road to recovery.
--Dean Baker
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