Many under the age of 21 have never heard those four words placed together in the same sentence. Many over 21 have forgotten the concept.
But with gasoline and food prices rising steadily, things are getting tight -- even for those who thought there was a never-ending supply of the stuff.
Still, "I can't afford that" is a difficult sentence to say out loud. Our society is just not programmed to think in those terms.
If prices keep rising, however, we may get more and more used to doing without.
Not that we always had money, for we didn't. But, at least for the past 25 years, we have always had credit -- credit cards, home-equity lines of credit and more credit cards.
With credit, who needed money? Why, banks didn't even want you to deal in actual currency. Checks, direct deposits, debit cards. You didn't need two coins to rub together in your pockets. Without a dollar in your wallet, you could get almost anything you wanted.
You can still get along without money, but now, with credit tightening and many homes worth less than the amount left due on the mortgage, things are not as easy as they once were.
In fact, as usually happens during recessions and depressions, people are starting to become very innovative.
"This poor economy sure is helping clean up the county," a friend said recently. He was referring to the good fortunes of a mutual friend in the junk -- excuse, me, recycling -- business.
"People are picking up every piece of junk they can find and hauling it down to his place," my friend continued.
And why not? Copper is bringing close to $4 a pound and steel is higher than gold used to be. Those old junk cars that were sitting around out in the weeds? They're worth big bucks these days.
Just load 'em up and bring 'em in, folks! We'll pay you top dollar! We don't care if they don't run! In fact, we'd prefer that they don't run! Just bring 'em on down!
And gold! With this precious metal selling for close to $1,000 an ounce several weeks ago, people were turning in their jewelry for three times as much as they paid for it.
Remember the old saying, "He'll kill you for your gold teeth"? That's not so far-fetched anymore. There are certain parts of town where you'd best not open your mouth if you have gold fillings.
I mentioned the price of copper. In recent months, thieves have been known to steal copper from building sites and try to resell it at junkyards.
But thievery has not been limited to precious and semiprecious metals. Crooks were stealing bales of hay out of barns last winter when those commodity prices were sky-high.
As I said, hard times lead to innovation, even among thieves.
With gasoline selling for $3.75 a gallon, one can only wonder when the crooks will pull out their siphon hoses. Thirty years ago during the oil crises of the 1970s, exactly that happened -- which led to the interior latches and locks on automobile gas tanks of today.
Of course, there were gasoline shortages back then. So far, there has been plenty of gas this time around. It's just the money needed to buy gas that is getting scarce.
But no matter how scarce money and credit get, there are certain things the government needs to make sure are always available, things our society cannot live without.
No, I'm not talking about food, clothing and shelter; I'm talking about real necessities like cell phones, tanning beds and video games. And you might as well throw unlimited Internet access in there, too. These necessities are guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution (or so many people believe).
There are a few of us who remember hard times and know they are survivable, but most believe that life without cell phones, tanning beds and video games would put us back into the dark ages.
We've got to have these things -- even if we have to scrounge around the countryside hauling junk to finance them.
Yes, times are getting tougher, but as long as we have scrap metal and credit cards, we'll get by.
Just don't show your gold fillings too often, or you might wake up one night to find a masked man with a pair of pliers standing over you.
It could happen!
To see more of The Free Lance-Star or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://fredericksburg.com/flshome. Copyright (c) 2008, The Free Lance-Star, Fredericksburg, Va. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
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