Are Bread Lines in Our Future?

I remember reading somewhere that during the Great Depression, people lined up on city streets for a free apple. And last night, when I stopped by the local grocery store to pick a few things up, I began to wonder if history might repeat itself. I paid almost $3 for a jar of peanut butter. Now I know in some parts of the country $3 may sound inexpensive. But just a couple of months ago, I regularly bought it for half that.

And that's not the only food price that's shot up. I noticed higher prices all over the store. I found it particularly sad that my grocery store no longer gives out coupons at the checkout. It used to be the case that after paying for your groceries, a coupon targeted specifically to you would be printed from the register. I used them regularly. But no more. Apparently, the grocery store can no longer afford it.

What was even more disheartening was coming home to see an ABC News story on my Google home page that asked the question: Are We Living in the Last Century? What do you think? I'm off to eat a very expensive peanut butter sandwich.