So the BIG QUESTION! Is what are you doing. What are you doing about the 'cut backs'? Mass lay-offs, Unemployment is at a record high. Inflation is just around the corner. Foreclosure sales, short sales. The unleveraging of the market. Basically your worst fears realized. All this and 2012 is just around the corner.
Me personally I've paid down and eliminated all of my debt. I have two years of food and ammo (subsistance not warfare) and I've made everything mobile. To be able to follow the new economy, as it develops.
were you able to get unemployment? I hear that it pays for 99 weeks! Beans,Rice, wheat in 5 gallon buckets. You can buy those at ace hardware with a resealable lid for about $7. Even better you can go dumpster diving and rehabilitate 5 gal buckets (no chemicals just drywall mud) for free. If you can find a construction site dumpster that is.
I should buy a gun or two, definitely a good investment for the upcoming economic apocalypse. Then again the hopefully sane people in MA can put the brakes on all this craziness by electing Scott Brown.
I've been a gumby longer than you've been climbing.