WELL, CREDIT CAN’T HAVE DRIED UP ENTIRELY: In my mail today is a letter from Mr Andrew Rowe, a “consumer finance executive” at Bank of America, offering me “a major opportunity to consolidate your bills with a loan of up to $50,000 at competitive non-variable rates.” What’s more, “there’s never been a faster, easier way to get the extra cash you need to help pay off high-interest debt or to use however you decide.”

But wait, there’s more: “There is no collateral required, no application fee, and no annual fee.” And they’ll deposit the money to my checking account upon approval, which can be had in as little as 10 minutes. So, like I said, apparently credit is still out there to be had, somewhere.

I tore the letter up and threw it away as usual, but I probably should have saved it as a historical document. There’ll be less of that kind of thing for a while, or I miss my guess.