ANNALS OF THE HOPEY-CHANGEY: Panera Tries New Hard-Times Approach in Obama’s Hometown: “The once-again-sadly-sagging U.S. economy has been so hard on retailers and their customers the last two or three years that a sandwich shop in President Obama’s hometown has just switched from regular prices to a pay-what-you-can plan. A Panera sandwich shop on Chicago’s North Side removed its regular prices Thursday and now posts only suggested donations. People pay what they can, maybe a little more than suggested, maybe a little less. If some have no money, they can help clean the store for an hour to earn a meal.”