Economy in a tailspin...women, minorities and the deceased affected most.

Don't worry about me. It's not like I'm going anywhere.

It appears that the bad economy is preventing a proper disposition of some of our citizenry. I for one blame George Bush.

Here is the story from my local fish wrap the Los Angeles Times:

Some of the money figures I might quibble with but where we are (middle t0 upper middle class) we might be a little higher than mortuaries in the story. Prices for cremations and burials can vary widely so shop around.

I know that some people have a definite hardship and most funeral homes will work with you to some extent. However, there are people out there who definitely have the attitude of "Hey, I'm grieving here. Somebody has to pay." I've had families who have cried poor mouth until I cut everything to the bone. Come the night of the visitation I can't get out of the lot because it's overflowing with Lexuses, BMW's, Mercedes, and Hummers. Come on, folks. If you're the kind of person who treats himself to a weekend in Vegas for his birthday, don't you think that maybe you should pony up for a decent funeral for your dad or mom? Everybody has this notion that the funeral home stays in business by preying on the emotions of the bereaved. For the most part, I've found that it usually works the other way around. Yeah, it's a business, but we are willing to go out of our way to help you in your time of need. Try not to take advantage of the fact that we are human too. And don't take it out on the taxpayer either. Cremations aren't that expensive. If you somehow found the bank for a large screen plasma TV you can probably afford one. It's the right thing to do.