Sign of the Times (Posted Without Comment)

A blog posting at Seeking Alpha this morning listed the following retail establishments in trouble:

• Circuit City filed Chapter 11.
• Ann Taylor (ANN) 117 stores nationwide closing.
• Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug, and Catherine's to close 150 stores nationwide.
• Eddie Bauer to close stores 27 stores and more after January.
• Cache (CACH) will close all stores.
• Talbots (TLB) closing down specialty stores.
• J. Jill closing all stores (owned by Talbots).
• Pacific Sunwear closing all stores (also owned by Talbots).
• GAP (GPS) closing 85 stores.
• Footlocker (FL) closing 140 stores after January.
• Wickes Furniture closing down.
• Levitz closing down remaining stores.
• Bombay closing remaining stores.
• Zales closing down 82 stores and 105 after January.
• Whitehall closing all stores.
• Piercing Pagoda closing all stores.
• Disney (DIS) closing 98 stores and will close more after January.
• Home Depot (HD) closing 15 stores, 1 in NJ (New Brunswick).
• Macy's (M) to close 9 stores after January.
• Linens and Things closing all stores.
• Movie Galley closing all stores.
• Pep Boys (PBY) closing 33 stores.
• Sprint/Nextel (S) closing 133 stores.
• JC Penney (JCP) closing a number of stores after January.
• Ethan Allen (ETH) closing down 12 stores.
• Wilson Leather closing down all stores.
• Sharper Image closing down all stores.
• K B Toys closing 356 stores.
• Lowe's (LOW) to close down some stores.
• Dillard's (DDS) to close some stores.

The economic miracle that has been the United States was not produced by socialized enterprises, by government-union-industry cartels or by centralized economic planning. It was produced by private enterprises in a profit-and-loss system. And losses were at least as important in weeding out failures as profits in fostering successes. Let government succor failures, and we shall be headed for stagnation and decline. -Milton Friedman