Hard Times?
Aldi, the bargain refuge that so many of us already know about, has started advertising on television. Is this just market expansion or seizing the chance to capitalize on the spiraling cost of living? We're already reduced to doing most of our grocery shopping at WalMart - as much as we despise the corporation - but I don't think I have the mental energy to doing more of my shopping at Aldi. The prices rock, they often have some interesting special items, but I always leave feeling depressingly poor. There are a lot of depressed poor people who shop at Aldi. Maybe they aren't more depressed than the people who shop at my local Dominick's, but the Dominick's shoppers try harder to keep up appearances. (Shopping at WalMart leaves me too nerve-jangled to be introspective or guilty over my complicity in their rape of the American marketplace)

The news is crisis driven, so I take the ranting about inflation, recession etc. to be part of the schtick. But we're also really starting to feel the pinch. We're far from clawing at the dirt a la Scarlett O'Hara but there is that pinch. And I haven't even looked at the North Shore Gas and ComEd bills for this month. The due dates are about two weeks off and "Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof."