FALLING GAS PRICES — bad for the economy! “The largest decline ever in gas-station receipts pushed overall retail sales down 0.4 percent in September, the Commerce Department said in Washington.” Oh, no!

There’s a small bright spot amid the gloom, though: “Excluding service stations, purchases climbed 0.6 percent, three times the gain in August. The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index jumped to 92.3 in October from 85.4 the prior month.”

Hey, just getting into this election-runup media psychology!