Earlier this year Bush and the boyz pumped $150 billion into the consumer economy by way of their much-hyped stimulus check package.

Despite Bush’s best efforts the National Retail Federation says US retailers will see their slowest holiday sales growth this year since 2002.

But it isn’t all doom and gloom in the retail world. Stephanie Grimmett says Japan’s Fast Retailing (PINK:FRCOF) has ambitious growth plans in fast-growing emerging markets. FRCOF’s share price is on a down trend. But it will likely bottom soon.

The Daily Reckoning’s Bill Bonner says the Fed’s bailout strategy is eerily reminiscent of Japan’s response to its own financial crisis in the ’90s. In Japan’s case, massive government intervention simply dragged out the country’s correction; 18 years on and Japanese stocks are still way below the pre-crash levels. Bill says the US could be looking at the same fate…

Investors are taking renewed interest in Japan. The Sovereign Society’s Eric Roseman recently says it may be time to invest in the Nikkei. Chuck Butler also thinks the Land of the Rising Sun has a brighter future ahead. But Chuck says a painful period of Japanese-style deflation could be heading to the US soon…

Oil Over $143; GM Falls to 54-year Low; Starbucks Closes 600 Stores; Nikkei Post 10th Straight Loss; United Health Lands in the Emergency Ward; 900 American Flight Attendants on Standby; Blockbuster Abandons Bid; Microsoft at it Again

High oil prices, a steep drop in consumer confidence, declining home values and a weak dollar conspired to drive the Dow Jones Industrial Average to its lowest point in two years, and made for the benchmark index’s worst June since the Great Depression.

The Dow lost 4.2% last week and closed at 11,346.51 – its lowest level since September 2006. All totaled, the Dow plunged 9.5% in June – its worst mid-year performance since the 18% drop in the 1930s.

Down 20% from its Oct. 9 high of 14,165, the Dow officially entered into a bear market.

Editors Note:  Money Morning’s Investment Director Keith Fitz-Gerald says increased wealth and Western influence are having a major impact on the local diet in places like Japan and China. As a result, people are getting bigger. As obesity becomes a social issue, companies will be scrambling to join the new health movement. This, says Keith, will create great opportunities for investors…

The hot gossip these days among investors is all about the emerging markets in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Twenty years ago the talk would still have been about Asia. But one country in now gets written off as a has-been: Japan.

Japanese stocks have risen on news that US orders for durable goods rose in April. This from Bloomberg:

Sony Corp., which gets a quarter of its sales from the U.S., sent electronics makers higher, while Canon Inc. jumped the most in a month. Mazda Motor Corp., which exports 80 percent of domestic production, led a gain by carmakers after the yen weakened against the dollar.

At the launch party for the Spectator’s business magazine, a banker introduced himself to me. He’d been wanting to meet me for ages, he said.

‘The U.S had 0.6% growth in the last quarter and 1% population growth. In my book, that’s a recession. Now Japan is running at about three-and-a-half percent at the moment and they’ve got no population growth so that is a real three-and-a-half percent. So overall, the Japanese are really pretty solid.’— Martin Hutchinson, editor of The Money Map Report