Using the economy is a lame excuse??
If I remember(or you can just look it up on your smartphone) unleaded regular was about $1.75 a gallon on November 8th 2008. It seems to me it has doubled!

How bout a used car? The people with limited incomes have seen the used car prices skyrocket after the intelligence of "cash for clunkers". You still don't think taking the drain plug out of a motor and running it till it blows up had some agenda written all over it.

How about a loan from a bank on a older car with over 70,000 miles on it from your local bank? My credit score is over 750 and my bank I had been doing business with for over 40 years said the government had changed there credit tactics after the "bailouts" and they could not help me finance a older "work car"

I don't have the time to draw a graph of how much your food prices have gone up in 5 years but I would easily say they have doubled.

The American people are hurting! Most American people have no idea of how things have CHANGED the past 5 years.

The same media that took one of the best people in Sprint car racing and convicted him of killing someone before they looked at the facts is the same media that is telling you things are better!!

These are not the only factors why the local seen is hurting, but calling the excuse about the economy a lame excuse is not really a FACT.