NEW YORK, NY, Oct 19 (Reuters) - The Ghost of Christmas Past haunts U.S. store shelves, sales floors and stockrooms this year. Retailers were sitting on $548.8 billion of inventory in July, a 21.6% increase from last year, according to U.S. Census data. With less than 10 weeks to go before Christmas 2022, major retailers including Costco, Kohl's and Express Inc. are peddling holiday sweaters, artificial trees and other decor that had been stuck in transit or packed in warehouses during the supply chain crisis that threw a wrench into Christmas 2021. While holding on to last year's goods is...