Consumer Affairs & Relations

Washington -- Consumer spending could drop by almost $200 billion next year while depressing real consumer-spending growth by 1.7% if middle-class taxes rise in response to the fiscal cliff, according to a report released Monday by a White House economic team.

"A huge win," is how National Retailer Federation president and CEO Matt Shay characterized the biggest shopping weekend of the year during media briefing Sunday afternoon.

More people shopped more often in more places over the weekend and in the process pushed spending to a record $59.1 billion compared to $52.4 billion during the comparable four day period the prior year, according to an NRF survey of 4,000 shoppers.

By Randy Frischer and Patricia Brandstetter

New York -- Mary L. Schapiro, the first woman to be permanent chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, announced she will step down on Dec. 14.

Schapiro was appointed head of the SEC by President Obama in 2008, one month after the Bernie Madoff scandal emerged, and she officially took office in 2009 at the peak of the financial crisis. Many experts say her four years were the toughest stretch any SEC chief has faced.

ARLINGTON, Va. — Retail Industry Leaders Association president Sandy Kennedy has responded to the White House report predicting the massive tax increases consumers could face if policymakers fail to avert the fiscal cliff.

The report was authored by the National Economic Council and the National Council of Economic Advisors.

Protests by organized labor failed to materialize in a meaningful way at Walmart stores over the weekend and the retailer went on to achieve record results.

New York -- The National Labor Relations Board Federal was not expected to decide before Thursday on whether to seek an injunction on behalf of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to stop a union-backed group from encouraging employee walk-outs that are expected to culminate Friday and include protests and rallies outside its stores.

Whatever your political views may be, it’s hard not to think about the impact of the recent presidential election on the consumer psyche, and ultimately our industry. Whether President Obama or Mitt Romney would have been better for the economy in the long run is an issue I’ll gladly leave to the political experts and historians. But I do think that, in the near term, we are less likely to see the big holiday spending numbers that some analysts were predicting.