We are heading for a depression or recession.

[DFW]

4. It sounds like we should be saying the opposite

IF (big if) you are able to afford it, and your purchases are not frivolous, DO spend money.

The workers whose jobs depend on those stores staying open say thanks! in advance. Pay cash or by check if it’s at all convenient, so that the credit card companies don’t siphon off 4% from what the store really takes in.

For the last 800 years or so, there has been an open air market in our town square, where local farmers, small food merchants, etc. set up three times a week. We buy there when we can. There is even a local baker who attaches a huge multi-level bread-baking oven to a pickup, drives it onto the square, and sells freshly-baked loaves of bread and breakfast rolls right out of the oven. The aroma is seductive (betcha Peppridge Faahm doesn’t remembah that). The people of our small town crowd the market in all kinds of weather. It’s not always cheap, but it IS always fresh, and it keeps the tradition (and the farmers) from dying out.