Consumer Spending Plunged in January, as Inflation Bites

``Adjusting consumer spending for inflation, which generates the figures used to calculate gross domestic product, purchases fell 0.3 percent after a 0.3 percent increase the previous month. The Commerce Department said it was the largest drop since September 2009, when the measure declined 1 percent... Disposable income, or the money left over after taxes, decreased 0.2 percent after adjusting for inflation, breaking a more than three-year streak of monthly gains. It rose 0.1 percent in the prior month.''