OK, this story is more of an opinion. We have one link and it's a short piece we ran across. The unitalicized part is the reporting. The rest is opinion.
Dickson County commissioners have to come up with a budget by Thursday, or they could lose $34 million in state funding.
This, we are told by Newschannel 5, is the result of Tough Times.
"Tough Times" is what we in the biz (and by biz we mean the news biz) call a franchise. These franchises are created because news people think they make stories more promotable. If the marketing people push these franchise names well, and news people use them as often as possible, that news organization "owns" that particular franchise. Ratings and circulation success ensured. The great unwashed are grateful for the vigilance shown by said news organization.
The notion of a franchise has been around for a long time. Newschannel 5's "Tough Times" is just the latest manifestation. We have the market crash of September '08 to thank for it. At first it was kind of cute. Even helpful to a small degree.
If our stock portfolio was half its original size, Newschannel 5 helpfully pointed out it was due to Tough Times. Banks won't give us a mortgage loan? Tough Times. Food bills skyrocketing? Tough Times. Gasoline creaping back up to $3.00? "TT". Lost that job? Ooooh....Tough Times. 
We have now gotten to the point that any story with a dollar amount and negative connotations are the result of Tough Times. But did Newschannel 5 stop to wonder if perhaps the Dickson school mess is the result of the school and county commissioners' inability to make decisions? Not tough decisions - just decisions about the best ways to spend money. Dickson's situation is the result of indecisive leadership and the inability to reach consensus, not tough times.
Elsewhere on this website, Newschannel 5's story about questions over the cost of health care reform includes the phrase Tough Times.
Here's some news for Newschannel 5. Health care costs were out of control way before the market crash of September '08. Tackling the problem and the ensuing questions about costs aren't the result of Tough Times, nor even an ancillary of Tough Times.
Tough Times is just another way the intelligence of the news consumer is insulted. If we've been affected by the market crash, we know. If we haven't we don't care. This franchise packaging got out of hand September 14, 2001. That was when electronic and print journalists stopped doing a stellar and heart-warming job of covering the causes and effects of September 11th and started packaging it.
Do a better job of reporting and stop attempting to package it like laundry detergent. Unless, once the economy rebounds (and it will) you start up a franchise called "Self-Indulgent Times." Because THAT is what put us in "Tough Times" to begin with.