The Way We Live Now: Broke. Britain's broke. Malls are broke. Even comic strips are broke. Broke, broke, broke.

Britain, a nation located in England, may be about to lose its AAA credit rating. Like, the whole country. Which is not good, because you know who has even worse debt problems than Britain? We do, America! "A sobering financial picture of Uncle Sam's balance came from David Walker, a former US comptroller general, who wrote last week in the Financial Times that the US has a negative net worth of $11 trillion, and off-balance-sheet obligations of $45 trillion. The US has only about $11 trillion in gold stashed in vaults."

Bit of advice, America: when you decide how to invest all that scrilla to make up that extra $11 trillion, do not invest it in building malls. Nobody is going to those places any more. Abandoned 'Ghost Malls' now dot the American countryside like so many Stuckeys'! Where will surly teens go now to stand around in packs and declare that "this mall sucks"?

Perhaps they will turn to useful activities such as art? (Play along, it's a segue). But that may be a bad plan as well! Comic strips, as an industry, are dying off. Newspapers can't afford to pay for them. If Family Circle goes down, it's only a matter of time before the whores take over.
[Pic via]