That is the only conclusion that readers can draw from an article about the October plunge in retail sales. The article notes that the falloff was one of the sharpest on record. It points to job loss and difficulties and obtaining credit as culprits.
While these were both factors, people who follow the economy would note that homeowners have lost more than $5 trillion in real housing wealth since 2006, close to $70,000 per homeowner. As a result, tens of millions of homeowners have little or no equity in their home. This reduce their consumption both because they have more difficulty obtaining credit and also because they feel more need to save.
This sort of falloff in consumption was entirely predictable outcome of the housing crash.
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