Simple: At the end of the world, what will people be doing? Making one last trip to the Mall to shop, of course! "Cancellation Day" and "The Big Adios" are apocalyptic references. "Do for yourself when the going gets tough" is a suicide reference. "Medicine for the blues" and "Sweet treats and surprises for the little buckaroos" is a reference to poison for an eventual family suicide, should things get very bleak. A song of supreme irony, in the best satyrical Steely Dan and Donald Fagen tradition! (cf. King of the World, Black Friday, I. G. Y., New Frontier, Countermoon, The Goodbye Look, Tomorrow's Girls).