It's all a confidence game, in reality.
The economy is getting worse, not better. The unemployment rate is still rising, 24 to 30 million Americans are either jobless or underemployed, home foreclosures are running at an annualized rate of 3.7 million, commercial and office real estate is starting to plunge, government deficits are mushrooming, and the baby boomers are in sell-off assets (in a depreciated market) to raise cash for retirement mode, as they've gotten brutally beaten, and the government is talking "up" things in a manner that would make Goebbels blush.
The government knows their last chance to avert an outright depression is to do and say anything in their power, which is waning, to keep consumers confident enough to keep shopping.
Yet, the savings rate is rising at the fastest clip in the post-WWII era.