We Found the Consumer

It seems others were thinking the same thing yesterday after Wal-Mart's lackluster quarter, asking themselves what happened to the low-end consumer lately when they should be spending money like drunken sailors with fuel prices so cheap. Well, good news, we may have found them.THE SHADOW ECONOMY. One article in TheStreet.com has an interesting theory that I think has merit: They believe there was a huge underground economy that has since dried up now that the housing boom has cooled off.