There's a great story at the Washington Post today about the interplay between retail spending and retail hiring. Specifically, the Post notes that because the holiday shopping season looks so grim, retailers aren't doing much of the seasonal hiring they typically do this time of year. More below ..."This is the time of year when retail jobs are supposed to be as plentiful as holiday cheer, when stores gear up for the Christmas rush by filling their sales floors with college students, moonlighters and anyone else looking to shore up their income."But no one is feeling very jolly this year."Faced with plummeting sales and spooked shoppers, retailers have cut back on holiday hiring at a time when their pool of applicants is swelling with those who have been laid off from other industries. About 272,000 retail jobs were open at the end of