ShopperTrak RCT Corporation’s Retail Traffic Index (SRTI) today reported that total U.S. foot traffic for the month of September fell a sharp 9.3 percent while the company’s National Retail Sales Estimate reported retail sales fell 1.0 percent for the same period – the first year-over-year sales decline since March 2003.
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On a weekly level, ShopperTrak’s NRSE reported sales for the week ending October 11 fell a 2.7 percent as compared to last year, while weekly sales fell 0.6 percent versus the previous seven day period ending October 4.

Meanwhile,

U. S. consumer confidence suffered its steepest monthly drop on record in October, a survey showed Friday, as the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression sent shocks waves through the economy.

The Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers said its index of confidence plummeted to 57.5 in October from 70.3 in September.

"Consumer confidence in early October registered its largest monthly decline in the history of the surveys," the report said.

While manufacturing measures also declined dramatically, much of that decline can be laid at the feet of Hurricanes Gustav and Ike. The consumer decline, however, appears to have started with the de facto nationalization of Fanny and Freddie, and gained momentum with the failure of Lehman Brothers, but ultimately is the direct result of Bush and Paulson's decision to sell the $700 Billion Wall Street Bailout to Congress by ordering the public to "Panic NOW, for Armaggeddon will happen next week!!!"

And the public, obediently, did.