I Smell Something Funky/The Buzzards Are Circling

There's a big stinky emanating from the dead carcass of this country's economy. Stagflation is trying to grow roots, the banking industry is in crisis, and the stock market is sliding down the shitter. The Fed keeps dropping rates but I have yet to see how that helps ME, the average in-over-my-head-with-credit-card-debt consumer (still paying up to 30% APR with no history of late payments and with a strong credit rating, which are "supposedly" based on prime + percentage). I work 3 jobs and still can't afford to buy my medicine. I can't afford to buy food. I can't even afford to take a shit because I have no money to buy toilet paper. Bush promised me a rebate to help me buy that stuff, but who knows if in the end that will actually pan out (and they'll just decide to apply it against next year's "refund" anyhow, so I'm still not getting ahead). This place is going to hell, and fast.

I get excited when I find milk for under $3.79 a gallon (last year: $1.99). I jump for joy when bread is under $2.79 a loaf (last year: $1.19). I buy everything in bulk. I buy from Save-A-Lot, where canned veggies that cost $0.39 there last year now cost $0.79. When stuff I need is on sale, I buy whole carts full of it, including toilet paper, since I know I won't be able to afford to buy it at full price if I run out before the next sale.

Yes, I see buzzards circling overhead.