Supply side economics guru Arthur Laffer co-authored a book recently whose title is anything but subtle: The End of Prosperity: How Higher Taxes Will Doom the Economy–If We Let It Happen. This provocative title came to mind after perusing some freshly minted numbers from the Tax Foundation, which estimates what it would take to close the U.S. government’s fiscal 2010 budget deficit by adjusting federal income tax rates for individuals. That’s not going to happen, of course. Not even close. But it’s an interesting way to consider what we owe and what it would take to pay off the debt solely on the backs of individual tax payers–in one year. In this make-believe world, the adjustment, of course, would be an increase in tax rates, and by more than a trifling amount. So it goes when liabilities exceed revenue by something approaching biblical proportions.

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Retails sales last month rose 0.3%, the Census Bureau reported this morning. That’s an upside surprise compared to the consensus outlook, which predicted a 0.3% fall. So much for the idea that snow can keep consumers away from the malls, even if the weather was blamed for pinching the labor market last month.

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The Wall Street Journal this morning is reporting that Janet Yellen is on the fast track to become the central bank’s second-in-command replacement for the retiring Don Kohn.

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