Have a nice Summer

[Anonymous]

From the Jersey Shore to Mackinaw City on Lake Michigan to Gatlinburg, Tenn., and Ocean Shores, Wash., businesses that depend on middle-class vacationers are suffering. With unemployment stalled above 9 percent and companies including Merck, Lockheed Martin, and Cisco Systems announcing layoffs, occupancy at economy hotels and motels is off from pre-recession peaks. Attendance is down at national parks, including Yellowstone and Mount Rushmore. “There’s a lot of misery among middle-class families with incomes between $40,000 and $85,000,” says Chris G. Christopher Jr., an economist at forecaster IHS. “Discretionary spending for things like taking a vacation aren’t top of the list.”