From a New York Times business story today:

Living from paycheck to paycheck is the norm in the United States, economists say, and Wal-Mart's cash registers offer some proof of that. For more than a year, the retailer says, it has detected spikes in sales twice a month, around the 1st and the 15th, which is about the time that many people are paid.

For more than a year? But ... but the recession officially ended in November 2001! And now we're in the BUSH BOOM! How is this possible?

Go to the story to find out how a lot of people are really living in these "boom times."