We've already been nailed by high energy prices (get ready for more pain this winter); and there could be a little less Christmas cheer come December. Signs point to a good -- but not great -- holiday season, as folks tighten their belts a notch or two.

Just ask Joanna Wagner, heading in for a morning of shopping at Saks Fifth Avenue. "Last year I spent big," she says. "This year? Probably not as big."

By no means are things bad -- far from it. The economy continues to hum along, inflation and unemployment remain low and consumer confidence remains high. In fact, consumer confidence rose more strongly than expected in September. The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index, based on a monthly survey of 5,000 U.S. households, showed that 18 percent of Americans believe the economy will continue to improve over the next six months, up from 17 percent in August.

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Last spring, the 33-year-old San Francisco cartoonist was sued by Starbucks for copyright infringement. Dwyer's mistake? He messed with the Seattle java giant's squeaky-clean trademark.

In mid-1998, Dwyer created a scathing parody of the famous Starbucks logo. Riffing on the ubiquitous coffee chain's titular longhaired mermaid, Dwyer stuck a coffee cup in the creature's hand, a cellphone in the other, and gave the chaste Ms. Starbucks prominent nipples and a navel ring. Instead of the familiar "Starbucks Coffee," the outer circle now said "Consumer Whore" -- with dollar signs instead of stars.

Dwyer, who paid the rent as a professional cartoonist for Marvel and DC Comics before launching his own comic book, Lowest Comic Denominator, began selling the parody logo via T-shirts and stickers on his Web site. The image, he says, captures the "crass, rampant commercialism in this country."

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