A couple of personal observations that lead me to believe that ye olde economy here in the US of A is swirling down the toilet:

• My in-laws have had two get-togethers in Charleston, SC in the last month.  For the first get-together my brother-in-law used his SUV to cart his family the roughly 500 miles from their home in Northern Virginia to Charleston.  This last week, remembering the money he spent on gas last month, he squeezed his three kids into the back seat of his Honda Accord to make the trip.  Anyone who’s traveled with three kids under the age of seven knows what kind of sacrifice that is.
• I’ve actually heard real estate agents say this housing market really sucks. That’s like getting my wife to admit that I might be right about something we’re arguing over.
• A guy I know who owns (owned?) a mortgage brokerage had to go out and get a "real job".
• My bank is offering CDs with rates that almost require more than one hand if you were counting points on your fingers.  Since banks aren’t generally in the business of offering up anything with lucrative margins you just know that inflation is up there too.
• I’m not getting two dozen pieces of mail daily trying to pimp home equity loans to me.  Something is seriously amiss.
• My Google Alert for "stagflation" is generating lots of links.
• Attendance at church seems to be up.  People are scared, or maybe they’re scouting out the locations for future food lines.