Note to Repukitans: Keep Talking up the Economy While I get my money out of the U.S.

Personal incomes which had been bolstered by a large stock dividend payment in December plunged 2.3 percent in January, the sharpest decline in more than a decade. Consumer spending was flat, the government reported Monday.

The Commerce Department said the sharp January drop in incomes followed a record 3.7 percent jump in incomes in December with both months heavily influenced by a $3 per share dividend payment that computer software giant Microsoft made on Dec. 2. Meanwhile, the number of new single-family homes sold in January fell 9.2 percent, the agency said in a second report. Cont.