Santa gets firsthand look at consumer cutbacks

By Adrian Sainz

Robert Ecker was bored with retirement, so he went back to work as a housing appraiser in Stockton, Calif. He trained four other appraisers during the real estate boom -- all of them are now out of the business.

   "Since the real estate market closed down, I grew a beard and now I'm doing this," said Ecker, dressed in the trademark red suit with white trim.

"The older kids are asking for clothes now, rather than gifts," he said. "Most of them are asking for one gift."

From Stockton to Miami, from ritzy Las Vegas to gritty Detroit, cities with the worst real estate markets led the U.S. economy into recession. Skidding home prices and soaring foreclosures have magnified the broader woes of unemployment, stock market turmoil and hard-to-get loans. Holiday shoppers are making a list, checking it twice, and then scratching off the nonessentials.

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