21.   It is vital that consumer spending remains strong when other parts of the economy are so weak.

22.   Japan has been struggling with a decadelong economic slowdown as industrial production drops, exports fall and consumer spending remains flat.

23.   Japan has been struggling amid a decade-long economic slowdown as exports fall and consumer spending remains flat.

24.   Japan has been struggling amid a decadelong economic slowdown as industrial production drops, exports fall and consumer spending remains flat.

25.   Japan has been struggling with a decadelong economic slowdown as industrial production declines, exports fall and consumer spending remains flat.

26.   Whether those benefits will be offset by the overall slump in consumer spending remains to be seen.

27.   While spending remains disproportionately large, past reforms have merely curbed excesses without diminishing the mainstay role of farming in the union.

28.   Although China regularly voices concern about its mammoth waste and pollution problems, government spending remains limited.

29.   The perception that consumer spending remains robust was strengthened by above-forecast earnings per share results for retailers Wal-Mart and JC Penney.