FullofDoubts：cutspending.docVIP

Full of Doubts, U.S. Shoppers Cut Spending By LOUIS UCHITELLE, ANDREW MARTIN and STEPHANIE ROSENBLOOM Published: October 5, 2008 Cowed by the financial crisis, American consumers are pulling back on their spending, all but guaranteeing that the economic situation will get worse before it gets better. In response to the falling value of their homes and high gasoline汽油 prices, Americans have become more frugal节省的all year. But in recent weeks, as the financial crisis金融危机 reverberated回想回荡 from Wall Street to Washington, consumers appear to have cut back减少 sharply急剧的. Even with the government beginning a giant巨大的 bailout紧急援助 of the financial system金融体系, their confidence may have been too shaken for them to resume their free-spending ways any time soon. Recent figures数字 from companies, and interviews采访 across the country, show that automobile sales are plummeting骤然跌落, airline traffic is dropping, restaurant chains一系列，连锁 are struggling to fill tables, customers are sparse稀少的 in stores. When the final tally记录 is in, consumer spending for the quarter just ended will almost certainly确定的 shrink收缩, the first quarterly decline衰退 in nearly two decades十年. Many economists, who began the third quarter expecting预期 modest适度的 growth, now believe the cutbacks are so severe严重 that the overall economy did not expand扩大 either, and they warn提醒 that a consumer-led recession撤回 could be more severe than the relatively相关的 mild温和的 one earlier this decade.十年间 “The last few days have devastated毁坏，在（精神上、财务上）压垮 the American consumer,” said Walter Loeb, president of Loeb Associates, a consultancy顾问, who said he worried that the constant连续的 drumbeat鼓声 of negative拒绝、否认 news about the economy was becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy本会成为事实的预言. “They all feel poor.” For some Americans, the pain is already acute极大的严重的: jobs disappeared at a faster clip in September. For many others, day-to-day finances are fine for now, but the financial outlook is uncertain: 401(k) accounts are dwindling逐渐变少, loans借出 a