Snow, snow, snow and Gizmo

It snowed all day yesterday.  Luckily it was light snow and the ground was warm so it only stuck on trees and grass until the night time temperature drop. 
I took Gizmo to the vet today and $259.00 dollars later, he is home and still has more work to be done.  Two more teeth have to go, and that will be another $300.00 this Wednesday.  I talked to my vet about spreading the payments out over the next few weeks, but he can't do it.  It appears that he took quite a hit last year.  The economy being what it is, people were not paying their bills as promised; he even had to let someone go.  He also told about a friend who is a paralegal in the city with 20 years experience who was let go recently and she is struggling.  All in all I don't see where the economy is better.  They let an attorney and 4 other employees go from my workplace, hours are cut, no raises or bonuses... How is the economy better?  Am I wrong in finding that things are bad all over strangely reassuring but disconcerting at the same time?