December is usually no time for second thoughts about shopping. This is the merry month of mall hopping, a season of spending all the money that has been larded away -- and then some. But wait: this may not be Christmas as usual. America's jingle-jangle shopping spree seems muffled so far this year. As customers browse among the cashmere sweaters and compact-disc players, many are having doubts not only about this month's expenditures but also about their whole philosophy of buy, buy, buy. The October stock-market crash and the likelihood of an economic slowdown next year have rekindled the feeling that...
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