chris makarsky

With the diminishing price of televisions and the proliferation of channels, it's getting easier and easier to kill time alone, and free time is one thing a 21st-century depression would create in abundance. Instead of dusty farm families, the icon of a modern-day depression might be something as subtle as the flickering glow of millions of televisions glimpsed through living room windows, as the nation's unemployed sit at home filling their days with the cheapest form of distraction available.

This doodle by then-U.S. Sen. Barack Obama sold for $2,075 last year in a charity auction. Now that Obama is set to be sworn in as the nation's 44th president in January, the owner says an attorney tried to buy the piece this week on behalf of an unnamed client and told him it could fetch six figures on the open market.