Well maybe that’s a little overstated, but a poll conducted for last month’s issue of the National Retail Federation’s Stores magazine reported 81 percent of respondents said that expenditures for Internet service were among the “untouchables” in their household budgets during tough times.   Cell phones garnered 64 percent and cable TV 61 percent.  We may be moving back to a time of long hair as only 40 percent said that haircuts were untouchable.

We are a society of connectivity and we value that connectivity more than we value haircuts, new shoes, vacations, cigarettes and alcohol according to a Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll.  Imagine that!  We’ll wear our hair long and dress in last year’s stiletto heals before we lose our high-speed internet connection.

Americans thirst to be entertained and connected digitally to the world around them.  Is it any wonder newspaper and magazine subscriptions are declining?

The ramifications of the Internet becoming a staple are profound.  As we come out of this blasted recession and budgets start to get back to normal…whatever normal is…think about the power of the staple.  The Internet is higher on the hierarchy of needs than alc0hol and cigarettes.  Where should it fit in your planning?