Washington Post came out Tuesday with a report blaming the American consumer for all that ails the US economy.

The paper owned by Jeff Bezos of Amazon fame was talking its master’s book by complaining that the economy is strong, but Americans will not spend their meager paycheck to lift the economy out of the doldrums.

Amazon has become the bellwether for the US consumer and its sales can be used to gauge the customer’s sentiment on the economy.

I think the WashPost should look at how deep the administration is in the consumer’s pocket. Health care costs have taken more out of the American family’s savings than any savings on gas.

There are no savings to spur US growth from a ever-shrinking middle class. But the paper has a vested interest in prodding the American consumer.

A 222 point rise in the Dow Jones used to be a cause for good news. Stocks used to rise this much on positive growth news. Not now.

The Japanese yen was taken to the wood shed yesterday, cheapening it by almost 1 percent, which created the equity rise yesterday.

It’s called yen carry trade.

You buy the cheaper yen with dollars and then buy equities with yen to improve your returns. That’s the trade Wall Street loves.

Wednesday you have a stronger yen and futures sell off.

Naturally you want to see stocks move higher for your retirement fund, but you want it to be based on a bright future rather than a weaker one where arbitrage is your investment philosophy.