I swear if someone else equates the credit crunch with rising oil and food prices, I may start attacking at them. Both are bad. But the credit crunch is a decrease in overall demand caused by banks restricting lending. Rising oil and food prices are caused by an increase in demand (and possibly a shortage of supply) for those two particular goods. There may be some slight crossovers, because of the interconnectedness of things, but please stop using "credit crunch" to mean "all economic hardships". You just sound stupid.