"Too_Many_Tools" wrote in message
...
On Apr 4, 12:27 am, F. George McDuffee gmcduf...@mcduffee-
associates.us wrote:
On Thu, 3 Apr 2008 08:30:08 -0500, "David
wrote:
snip Food is as cheap as it's ever been in the history of man. An hour
of
work feeds the four of us for a day or two; which is ridiculous when you
stop and think about it.
snip
=========
I have already posted several links about the big upsurge in food
stamp usage and increases in demand on the "community pantries"
within the US.
You may wish to
reviewhttp://www.archive.org/download/linktv_globalpulse20080402/globalpuls.
...
which details the problems the speculation in food commodities is
causing outside the US. We are stepping on our lolly big time in
the geo-political/economic sense as these rapidly increasing food
prices are destabilizing not only much of the Mid-East and Africa
but also significant parts of Latin America, e.g. Chile. These
areas either supply or abut areas that supply the US with not
only petroleum, but also other strategic materials such as
chrome, nickel, and platinum. While the elite in the actual
petroleum producing countries such as Saudi or Dubai may not be
affected, the less affluent most definitely are, and telling them
to eat cake will not be any better received this time around.
If you need a mp4 viewer you can download one for free
he
http://www.getmiro.com/
With a nod to John Carroll -- we just added a few more inches to
the snowpack...
Unka' George [George McDuffee]
-------------------------------------------
He that will not apply new remedies,
must expect new evils:
for Time is the greatest innovator: and
if Time, of course, alter things to the worse,
and wisdom and counsel shall not alter them to the better,
what shall be the end?
Francis Bacon (1561-1626), English philosopher, essayist, statesman.
Essays, "Of Innovations" (1597-1625).
I too have seen it personally that the locals are struggling with food
prices...and if you ask the employees at Walmart and Target (two
national chains) you will find that they will confirm this.
I believe the comments of the cashier who has direct interaction with
the man on the street over any that a damn politician makes.
Here is an article you might want to try reading....
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080404/...m_TpTV9tms0NUE
Please note the recommended status of this story located at the bottom
of the page....this value is determined by those who read the
story...note how high it is.
That is strong evidence that life is not good on Main Street.
TMT
Shoppers scrimp as food prices rise Thu Apr 3, 8:20 PM ET
Reuters sent reporters to three Wal-Mart stores this week to discover
how badly American consumers are being squeezed by the housing crisis,
job losses and rising food prices. They went on March 31 and April 1
to compare traffic before and after payday. Wal-Mart says many of its
customers are financially strapped toward the end of a pay period.
This is what we discovered:
By Nicole Maestri
SECAUCUS, New Jersey (Reuters) - Patricia Norris' family is feeling
the one-two punch of higher fuel and food prices.
Her husband works as messenger, driving around to deliver packages.
But the job is not as profitable as it once was because rising fuel
prices are eating into his earnings.
With money tight and food prices rising, Norris can no longer afford
to buy beef and chicken on a regular basis.
"We buy meat only for special occasions. Like for Easter, we had a
ham," she said after a shopping trip at her local Wal-Mart in
Romeoville, a mixed blue- and white-collar suburb of Chicago.
Norris must purchase only what is on her shopping list, to avoid
spending more than she can afford.
"Sometimes I cry," she said, when she passes items on store shelves
she can no longer buy.
Across the United States, consumers like Norris are finding that
grocery shopping has become a sobering experience as their budgets
fail to keep pace with food costs.
Reuters reporters visited Wal-Mart stores in Romeoville, Illinois,
Secaucus, New Jersey and Santa Clarita, California, on the last day of
March and the first day of April to find out how shoppers are
navigating the food aisles when they have payday cash in their
pockets.
Already squeezed by high gasoline prices, slumping home values, a
weakening job market and the possibility that the U.S. economy is in a
recession, consumers have adopted a no-nonsense approach to shopping,
passing over a trip to Target (TGT.N) or a local grocery store if they
can find lower prices at Wal-Mart
(WMT.N).
They are buying cheaper store-brand products, avoiding costly cuts of
meat, consolidating trips, clipping coupons, constructing well-
researched shopping lists and avoiding splurges to spend only the bare
minimum.
"I don't buy anything I don't have to," Norris said.
FOOD PRICES JUMP MOST IN 17 YEARS
U.S. consumer food prices normally rise by about 2.5 percent annually,
but they increased by 4 percent in 2007 -- the biggest increase in 17
years, according to U.S. Agriculture Department data.
Prices continue to rise. A survey conducted by the American Farm
Bureau Federation in February showed that in the beginning months of
this year, the cost of 16 grocery items, including flour and cheddar
cheese, was $45.03, up $3.42, or 8 percent, from the fourth quarter.
That has consumers like Laura Miller taking a calculated approach to
shopping, much of which she does at Wal-Mart in Santa Clarita,
California, a planned community on the outskirts of Los Angeles.
Married with three little girls, Miller said her food costs have
almost doubled to $300 every two weeks.
She plans meals two weeks in advance and shops with the daughter who
doesn't ask her to buy snacks. Miller's printed shopping list,
organized by item and place of purchase, shows that she does the bulk
of her buying at Wal-Mart.
"I won't pay $6 for a box of cereal when I can get it for $3" at Wal-
Mart, she said.
Karen Wikholm, a library worker from Romeoville, is another who does
her homework before heading to the store, sorting through newspaper
ads, hashing out which stores offer the best deals and figuring out
where her coupons can go farthest.
She then gets in her car and, in one day, goes to her local Wal-Mart,
Dominick's and Jewel grocery stores, buying only what is cheapest in
each store.
The three stores are located about a mile from each other on a stretch
of road that includes several strip malls interspersed with vacant
plots for planned housing developments.
"We're shopping as the paycheck comes," she said.
PAYDAY MEANS GROCERY DAY
Increasingly, shoppers like Wikholm must wait until payday to load up
on groceries and then hunker down until the next paycheck.
At all three Wal-Mart stores, that trend was visible.
The Wal-Mart in Secaucus, a few miles outside New York, operated at a
leisurely pace on the afternoon of Monday, March 31. Shoppers slowly
browsed store aisles or stopped at the in-store McDonald's (MCD.N) for
a snack.
But the store was bustling with activity at the same time the next
day, as shoppers pushed overflowing carts loaded with cereal, soda,
juice, frozen food and bread.
"There's no question that people are shopping when they have money in
their pocket," said Tracy Ferschweiler, the manager of the Secaucus
store.
Leslie Dach, executive vice president of corporate affairs and
government relations at Wal-Mart, said the cycle of shoppers running
out of money in between paychecks and then flocking to its stores on
payday is "more pronounced, more visible."
While many U.S. retailers are facing waning sales as shoppers cut back
on purchases of clothes, jewelry or home furnishings, Wal-Mart's vast
grocery business and its emphasis on low prices is spurring a
resurgence at its U.S. stores and in its stock price.
Its stock is up 15 percent this year, while Target, a more upmarket
discounter, is up 7 percent, and the Dow Jones industrial average
(.DJI) is down 5 percent. Wal-Mart's February sales at U.S. stores
open at least a year rose 2.6 percent, helped by strength in its
grocery business, while Target reported a 0.5 percent gain in its
February sales.
Annette Reilly was at the Wal-Mart in Secaucus on April 1 to buy
cereal for her 2-year-old grandson, who was sitting in her shopping
cart. She said she is now buying cereal at the discount retailer
because it charges $1 less per box than her local Stop & Shop.
"Why not?" she said of making the trip to Wal-Mart. "I can come here
and save $5."
Saving those extra dollars is becoming more crucial.
Mary Ann Doyle, a 75-year-old retired teacher browsing in the dairy
aisle at the Wal-Mart in Santa Clarita, said she is now buying food in
smaller quantities, like half a dozen eggs instead of a dozen, and
using more coupons.
"It needs to get better," she said of the economic situation. "I hope
we've hit rock bottom."
And to think after all this hardship it's people just like this who will
stand up and vote for John McCain for president. Seeing the results of
having republicans running the country for eight straight years, seeing
their lives decline, and then to have them again vote for more republicans
to do more of the same to them. It's sad really, really sad. I'm sure glad
I'm not in their boat. But then I know who to blame and who not to vote for.
Kind of makes me not feel sorry for their troubles. They put republicans in
power and even after they get reamed out they vote for more of the same.
Makes you shake your head.
Hawke