Tobacco, fur, airplanes, gambling – okay, you can tell where my mind is this morning. In sharp contrast to the vice-pricing power at Altria, Lorillard and Reynolds (if only Altria could get around the problems with that steeenking euro), the recession is finally smacking down the fur industry in a way that PETA never could. Maybe Pamela Anderson can put some pants on now and stop subjecting us to how she’d rather go naked than wear fur.

WSJ this morning wrote about the mink industry, in America and elsewhere, and the impact of the credit crunch. Here’s a great video where the little critters are scurrying around in their bunks enjoying their temporary immunity (and the fact that they don’t have to look at ads with Pamela Anderson sans pants – which, by the way, you should be thanking me for not using to illustrate this post):

Oh, and did you see that massive 1% surge in retail sales that was reported this morning? Looks like everyone burnt through their Christmas gift cards early this year. I know that’s what I did in January. It’s an honest combination of no one wanting to spend any actual money of their own, and the ever-present gnawing fear that we don’t know which retailers are going to go belly-up.