half of the year. and consumer spending, of course, accounts for about 70% of all economic activity here in the u.s. jon? jon: joe ling kent in our newsroom, thanks. breaking news now. again, the national weather service has a report of a tornado about four miles west of bennington, kansas. crossing the u.s. 81 freeway storm chaser reed timer on the phone with us now. can you see this thing, reed? yes, we are inside the circulation. it was a mile wide tornado missed the town of salina where our armored vehicles spointed down to the ground. had winds of 150, 165 miles per hour. two scientific probes in and we are in a really bad spot right now. there is another tornado developing off the east of it. this thing is a monster. just missed salina to the west. jon: salina one of the big cities there along i-70 in kansas. windows rolled up, ears