Just read a couple of articles on StoreFrontBackTalk from earlier in the month.  Both were written by David Taylor (who started PCI Knowledge Base - www.knowpci.com) and both were good articles.  The one from the 10th had this blurb as one of his recommendations for dealing with security/PCI in a tough economy….
Focus on risk reduction, not fine avoidance
Many organizations set their budgets for PCI compliance based on the avoidance of fines. Thousands of CFOs and other financial executives received letters from their acquiring banks in the last three years threatening …

Here’s another interesting article written for Bank of America…

Nice overview of how to approach PCI compliance efforts.
5 Strategies to Achieve PCI Compliance - 7-Jul-08: Payment Security article: contact Walt Conway.