How The Recession Is Breaking Bad Habits.

Why the Recession Is Good for Breaking Bad Habits
By Thomas O. Black
I have heard myself say it, and I hate myself for thinking it, but it bears repeating. This is how it got started.
My Grandmother Fischer took me shopping for a bandana like the one Grandpa Fischer wore to work. He was a fireman on the Katy Railroad. By the time Grandpa Fischer got interesting, he had become an engineer and I wanted to be just like him.
Grandmother took one bandana off the pile and made a tisking noise. She could make that disappointing noise without moving her disapproving lips.
“You can practically see right through the fabric.” She commented drily as her index finger jabbed the underside of the cloth accompanied by a lot more tisking. “They sure don’t make them like they use to,” Grandma said with a sigh. “No sir, I will give you one of Grandpa’s bandanas.” That was that. Grandma turned on her thrift store shoes and left the store in a flurry of tisking with a disappointed boy in her wake. It was bad enough to drive all the way to the store, and not get a brand new bandana, but to be given one that smelled like grandpa’s immigrant body was discouraging. It was hard to feel like a spoiled grandchild around Grandmother Fischer.
I digress, sorry.
If you heard people say, “it’s inevible, or, change is good for you,” then conventional wisdom is probably right.
The biggest changes in the every day items like; foodstuff, toiletries, and bad habits had to change.
Everyone is well aware how everything is affected by the recession. What better way to put a positive spin on things. Imagine dieting by consuming regular foods. Even better, buy junk food. Anything you open today will be sure to have less of it. [Note: Don’t forget your blogger is blind and judging amounts is very subjective.]
However, it doesn’t take a blind man to see, there is less food!]
It Great! The food industry has put everyone on a diet and we gobble it up mindlessly. There is less junk food to eat; because the industry is worried the profit is not high enough.
It is the same for the bad habits. Believe it or not, the cigarette industry is putting their smokers on a program of cutting down on tobacco. Aren’t they a good bunch of fellows? They have their smokers’ best interest at heart!
Yeah right. Nevertheless, the tobacco industry is cutting back on the leafy substance and charging five dollars for a pack.[Note: In Truth, it is taxes that has inflated the price.]
“Why I can remember a day, when I was not stealing them, I paid fifty cents a pack! Can you imagine why we had to steal them?”
Spooky huh? I sound just like my Grandmother. However, it should be noted that I doubt my grandmother ever stole anything, much less a pack of cigarettes.] .
Coffee has not escaped the claws of profit. I could drink a pound of coffee in around three weeks. Today? I’m lucky if the same priced coffee could keep me in caffeine for a week!
So, less coffee, less tobacco, and still worse? The recession cuts into our sports.
Guess who is dictating shorter time on the playing field for football and to a lesser degree, baseball. That’s right, television rules the airwaves, less time on the field means more time for commercials.
“Yes sir, it ain’t like it use to be.”

No truer words written by Thomas O. Black Friday 10:43 PM.
Post Script: You know I can’t leave it alone. A clever PR stunt by the company that makes Oreo cookies.
The bean counters had cut cost by putting out bite size Oreo cookies. However, had there been no clever advertising gimmick, the bite size cookie would resemble today’s recessed downsized version. Less double stuffing means less sugar for our diabetic bodies.
Like Jimmy Garcia said, “all silver linings have a little gray. Fifty shades of doing business while saving Americans from becoming obese. What a country!