[Excerpt] Consumer units spent $50,486, on average, in 2008, a 1.7-percent increase over the previous year. This was a more moderate increase than the 2.6-percent growth in spending in 2007 and the 4.3-percent increase in 2006. The increase in consumer expenditures in 2008 was lower than the 3.8-percent increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for All Items in 2008. The increase in spending was the smallest increase since the 0.3-percent increase in 2003. This report provides the latest results from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Consumer Expenditure Survey (CE).