Boom time! Retail sales posted the strongest gains in six years for January. Here is the news article:

http://finance.myway.com/jsp/nw/nwdt_rt.jsp?section=news&feed=ap&src=601&news_id=ap-d8fov4eg0&date=20060214

Consumers, lured to the malls by unusually warm weather and eager to spend their Christmas gift cards, boosted retail sales by a much larger than expected amount in January with sales outside of autos surging at the fastest pace in six years.

The Commerce Department said Tuesday that retail sales excluding autos were up 2.2 percent in January, the best showing in this category since late 1999. With autos included, retail sales rose by 2.3 percent, the best showing in 20 months. Overall retail sales had risen by a tiny 0.4 percent in December.

The overall increase was more than double what economists had been forecasting. They attributed the strong showing in part to the mildest January in more than a century. This prompted consumers to troop to the stores to redeem the gift cards they had received in December.

This should quell the panic some people probably felt when the economy only grew by 1.1% last quarter. Make no mistake about it: this is nearly as good as the economy gets. Unemployment is down to 4.7%, inflation is happening but it's not slowing consumers down -- this is boom time, folks, and don't let the liberal media tell you otherwise.