The Home Depot store closings announced today just seven months after Home Depot CEO Frank Blake said the company had no plans to reduce the number of its core retail stores is bearish omen for the US economy.

The Home Depot closings are also a clear sign that consumer spending cutbacks are hitting America’s blue chip companies. Home Depot is the world’s number one home improvement store chain.

According to the AP news wire, it’s the first time Home Depot stores have closed for performance reasons.

And of course consumer spending is the name of the game. It makes up 70% of the US economy, and it’s what the Commander in Chief himself wants to juice up with his ‘rebate’ checks.

“A consumer economy may benefit from consumer spending,” says Bill Bonner in The Daily Reckoning, “but only if consumers have money to spend.” If giving away phony money, which you don’t really have, could make things better – why stop at $300 a head? Why not give away $1,000 a person… or $5,000?

“Likewise, if it’s a good idea to lend money at 2% below the inflation rate…why not lend it at 10% below the inflation rate?

“The really extraordinary thing is that the brightest minds in the nation think they can control the economy in these extraordinary ways. But they would think so, wouldn’t they? The guy who believes drinking doesn’t affect his driving is always the guy with the whiskey bottle.”