If you've got it, flaunt it

That was the motto in the 1980s, when greed officially became good. Here's the latest retail numbers, for April:

Neiman Marcus sales up 12.5%
Nordstrom up 6.9%
Federated (including Macy's and Bloomingdale's) up 2.8%
Target up 1.3%
Walmart up 0.9% (mostly in food)

Translation: not really necessary. Let's just say two words: tax cut.

Mind you, the kids are still spending pretty rapidly:

American Eagle up 20%
Abercrombie & Fitch up 16% (these last two being same-store numbers).

Where do they get the money, these kids?