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EconoMeter: Is uptick in retail spending a fluke?

Roger Showley, SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE

Sunday, December 19, 2010

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Kelly Cunningham, National University System
Answer: Yes
After being depressed for so long. According to taxable sales reported by the state of California since 1933, San Diego sales decreased 17.4 percent from 2006 to 2009. This is the steepest and longest decline ever recorded in San Diego. Nearly one in eight local business outlets closed.
On a per capita basis, the spending decline has been even deeper and longer since a “real” peak reached in 2004. Although reports of sales rising in 2010 are still preliminary, this is a noteworthy improvement from such unprecedented drops, but far cry from a rebound to former levels of activity.