Be wary of cheap.

• Author: Rundles, Jeff
• Position: RUNDLES wrap-up - Economic conditions - Column

When I was in college at the University of Denver in the 1970s, my friends and I liked to enjoy a few beers. Then a few more. And a few more after that. But, being the college students we were, and on budgets and all, we had a "quantity versus quality" point of view.

At the time, a case of Coors could be had for $4.99, including tax, which sounds like a good price, but in reality was the equivalent of the $20-plus a case Rocky Mountain Spring Water goes for now. So to supplement our quantity, and to stretch our meager resources, we got a case of good Coors for round one, then bought a generic, awful beer called Buckhorn at about $2 a case to carry us through whatever event we were commemorating, like Friday, or Tuesday. Whatever was left of the money we pooled would go to Jack in the Box or some other fast-food establishment that made up in quantity what it lacked in quality.

We didn't think of it as "value," we were being "cheap." We had to.

That's why I am currently wondering about the explosion of "value" in our economically distressed society. There's a burst of popularity of 99-cent meals at the weaker fast-food outlets, and value meals at the next level, like the $5 foot-long subs at Subway and the $4 torpedo sub at Quizno's. Then I read a quote from the CEO of the new Smashburger chain that its typical $8 meal tab was being boosted by the people downsizing their restaurant budget from Chili's and Applebee's.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Then I see where Americans are reporting that fewer will take vacations this year, and that of those who will travel, more will stay with friends and family, more will take shorter in-state trips, and that some are simply just going to spend more time in the backyard. In response the travel deals out there are amazing, especially the ones pitched by the marginal players.

I have also come across not a few people who are selling their homes, or rather attempting to sell them in this down economy, and the typical comment as to why is "downsizing." My guess is they are doing this so they can maintain the quantity of the other things in their lives. Like the increase in business travelers flying coach as...