The safe thing for me to do this week, I suppose, is to riff about the economy. Or at least weigh in on the Feds' latest attempt to rearrange the deck chairs on the sinking ship. See, the IRS began dropping those much-ballyhooed stimulus checks into the bank accounts of taxpayers this week.

And while that should be great news for the country's shopping malls — for all of a weekend or two — most consumers won't use the money in any way that might actually have a lasting impact. On their own fortunes or the economy's.

Weary cynicism aside, one thing most people probably won't be doing, though, is stimulating tobacco sales. Or handing a chunk of it over to their employer for the privilege to do so.