In the episode "The Great Recession" (Season 5, Episode 3), the Gang attempts to navigate the 2008 financial crisis with their typical brand of misguided logic and self-interest. Key Plot Features
To save money, Mac and Dennis "fire" Charlie and Dee, leading to the creation of a "self-sustaining" internal economy using Paddy’s Dollars . [S5E3] The Great Recession
A shanty town of newly impoverished people forms outside the bar, leading to Charlie living in a cardboard box and trying to sell "local Delaware runoff crabs" (which Dee notes look like sea scorpions). In the episode "The Great Recession" (Season 5,