• Housing has good and bad signs. Decline is mostly behind us, Mayland said, looking at historical trends. But a new problem comes in non-residential structures. Spending on buildings is at a high, but so are vacancies.

• Consumer spending declines could keep hurting retailers this holiday season. While Mayland noted foreign economies will bear some of the brunt from a slowdown, considering all of our imports, a nationally projected 1 percent growth year-over-year "would be a disastrous holiday season for the retailers," Jenson said.

But it's a tough time to entice spending, Wells Fargo economist and executive vice president Kelly Matthews said.

"From a policy standpoint, we clearly need people to spend, to invest, to borrow. That's how we get this economy going again," he said. "But ... what might be wise from an individual family point of view might not be best in terms of economic policy. ... This is one of the times perhaps you should be careful."

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