Truth is Stranger than Fiction--Economic News this Week

Looks like maybe we're not in a one-state recession anymore.
U.S. payrolls decreased by 4000 instead of increasing by the expected 110,000. It's the first drop in four years.(source)

More job cuts in the knowledge-based financial sector.
Countrywide Financial, the biggest U.S. home lender will downsize 12,000 jobs (1/5 of its workforce) over the next three months. (source)

Denial runs as deep as your credit limit.
August back to school spending was brisk. (source)

Your credit limit may be increasing if you are a particularly bad risk, through the generosity of credit card companies.
Direct mail credit card offers to subprime customers were up 41 percent in the first half of this year, compared with the first half of 2006, according to Mintel International Group.(source)

Do these things taken together make any sense?

Next Friday will bring the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Preliminary Number for September. It's anybody's guess.