If they are spending the checks they aren’t spending them at Starbucks, McDonalds or Walmart.

http://www.thestreet.com/s/starbucks-sales-chilled/newsanalysis/food-beverage/10401280.html?puc=googlefi

http://money.cnn.com/2008/01/28/news/companies/mcdonalds_consumerspending/?postversion=2008012813

http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200801290836DOWJONESDJONLINE000325_FORTUNE5.htm

If you were looking for signs that the American consumer is reaching their limit, you might consider these three companies and how their sales are doing.

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And talking about margins – less than 20% of the population of America has a college degree – I would guess that the people shopping at Mission Valley and Fashion Valley are largely from this 20% or have access to the wallet of one of the 20%ers – ie, whether traffic at the mall is up or down, these malls aren’t representative of where 80% of Americans spend their money