One of the popular topics at the moment, occasionally lifting its head above the usual fray of which presidential candidate has a crazier former pastor, is the news that we ain't got no money, y'all.

As a part-time member of the Global Media Conspiracy (Local 651), I've always been amused when we choose to deliver information that is blatantly obvious:

"Golly, there sure are a lot of cars on the road -- just like on every Memorial Day. There must be some sort of trend. Let's go to our reporter who's standing next to the interstate."

"That's right, and look what I've found: A lot of cars. On the interstate. On Memorial Day. Pretty impressive, isn't it? Obviously none of the people in those cars are watching right now, but I'm going to plow on and give a load of traffic information."

So, the news of the moment is that we all have less money. And the reason for this is that food and gasoline cost more. Can you imagine the person who actually needed to be told this:

"What? Food costs more? Man, I thought I had less money because my children were stealing from me. Hey, Bobby! No need to cut me a switch, you're off the hook, son."

But I suppose that to some extent commiseration is the foundation of journalism. We report on that which draws our interest, and when we find ourselves forking over more cash for our beer, we find that to be pretty interesting. Almost as interesting as that "American Idol" final. Or, perhaps, equally as interesting. Because we drank a lot of beer while watching that thing.

I don't actually live in the United States at the moment -- and probably won't until Carrie Underwood drops the restraining order -- but from what I hear via friends, people are genuinely starting to feel the pinch.

I've heard, for instance, that the price of gasoline is up to around $4 a gallon. I don't mean to sound all pompous and la-dee-da, but gasoline in Britain is closer to $10 a gallon. Obviously, we haven't escaped the credit crunch either.

I think "credit crunch" may be a phrase more popularly used in the British press. It makes this economic downturn sound more like a bland cereal. And in a way, that's how many people seem to be dealing with it -- like it's not all that bad. It's the tasteless "continental breakfast" bran flakes we eat at the La Quinta because they are free and we woke up too late to get a Danish.

We say we are tightening our belts, but we aren't really. People are responding to the economic situation by ceasing to do things that they didn't need to be doing in the first place. This past weekend I overheard a man suggesting that times were so tough he would no longer be ordering his drinks "grande" at Starbucks. Wow. I think we all remember that terrible scene in "Grapes of Wrath" when Tom Joad was reduced to purchasing tall lattes.

That's probably the biggest complaint about the current state of the economy: I can't really enjoy complaining about it. My grandparents are children of the Great Depression and are by definition going to win any Tough Times battle. I mean, you're hardly going to beat your granddad's story of carrying pianos up 10 flights of stairs for a nickel a day with the fact that you've had to give up pay-per-view soccer matches.

I'm almost certainly risking a deluge of unhappy e-mail by suggesting that people aren't suffering at the moment. There are many who really are. But there are also many of us who still haven't truly felt the effect of a negative economy. We've got nothing to brag to our grandchildren about. And hopefully things will stay that way.

Chris Cope lives with his wife in Cardiff, Wales. His column appears every other Tuesday.