For many months now our nation's leaders have bent over backwards to avoid admitting what is painfully obvious to those of us on the ground: The economy sucks. Anyone who goes to the supermarket, pays rent or a mortgage or puts gas in their car knows we're already in a recession.

So it's amusing to watch people like U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson twitch so as he is forced to admit that the country's economy is indeed up the creek.

And now we get these headlines! Frugality is in! Time for Americans to relearn how to live within their means! No more free lunch!

In other words, it's time for Americans to take a lesson from their grandparents and stop living beyond their means. I'm all for it, of course. And I'd like to see our Free-Market Republican leadership do the same. But that doesn't look too likely, what with all the bank bailouts coming down the pike, and the ongoing money sink of Iraq.

"A chicken in every pot, and a car in every garage" is starting to sound like a viable campaign slogan again.