What Recession???

I know that the employment stats aren't looking great, that mortgage foreclosures are everywhere, and that food and fuel prices are very high.

I thought about all of that that earlier tonight, when I was trying to work my way out of the parking lot at the Rosedale shopping center. A friend and I met for a late afternoon movie (the lobby was full), and later had dinner at a moderately priced chain restaurant in the mall. When we first arrived at the restaurant, every table was occupied.

When I was back in my car around 7:30 pm, every single parking spot that I saw in the wraparound parking lot was full. What was going on? Is Saturday night now a popular time to shop? I'm not good about monitoring sales advertising, so maybe everything at Rosedale was marked down 40%. I dunno, but a whole lot of people were out spending money on a Saturday night.

Tell me again how an 8.5 cent gas tax increase, phased in over a few years, will lead us all down the road to perdition?