I went out and ran some errands this afternoon. I had to grab a few things for the household and I'm told by reliable sources that one of the local supermarkets is the cheapest ( Market Basket), so I proceeded there to do my shopping. Upon pulling in the parking lot the place was jammed with cars and people. This is on a beautiful Sunday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. or so. I drove around a bit and decided I wasn't in the mood to mingle with my fellow humans.
As I drove up the street I remembered a friend of ours that works at ( Shaws ) , another more expensive supermarket, saying that she was surprised she still had her job because that place was so dead. I pulled into their parking lot and was surprised at the amount of open spaces. I got a front row space ( I usually walk from farther out , but there was more than one available), and went in the store. The items I had to get were at opposite ends of the store so I had to cover the whole place. I bet I saw a maximum of 20 people in there.
I got the 5 or 6 things I needed and went up to an empty register line and was back in my truck in 10-15 minutes. So ALOT more people are shopping at the lower end places because money is getting tight, OK I registered that in the old memory banks and to keep an eye on Shaws to look for layoffs or store closings.
On to the next synapse firing incident:
Since I had done an outstanding job I decided I needed lunch. A quick stop at Burger King was the next thing that shocked me. I ordered a BK double stacker and a bottle of water. The girl handed me the bag and I questioned myself " Theres no way theres a burger in there?" it was too light. I pulled over into the shade of the trees in the parking lot and got this:
NOW mind you I'm not small BUT I sure as hell ain't no giant. It looks to me like the food industry is downsizing their portions so that they can maintain their margins.
These were just a couple things that registered to me today. I know that things aren't as rosy as they are saying and there is NO WAY things are turning around. More and more layoffs will result in less spending which will result in less revenue, which will result in layoffs....... etc... etc.... etc....
I concur. Granted the White House, regardless of the occupant, has a vested interest in blowing sunshine up our butts, but no one is seeing signs of recovery at the level where the trickling down of economics no longer reaches. On the other hand, practiced investors are making a fortune on the market using puts and calls since the budget discussions started dragging out- artificially suppressing the market is making a fortune for the elite, with a wonderful guaranteed closing date of Aug 2, so they know exactly when the fun has to stop.
ReplyDeleteWhile gas prices always garner news coverage, rising food prices seem to mostly run below the radar.
ReplyDeleteAnd of course food and fuel prices are excluded from the CPI, so we are told that there is no rampant inflation.
I've stopped worrying about another recession, I'm worrying about another depression like the ones my parents and grand parents lived through. Only worse.
And the evidence-of-history-ignoring fools in government are discussing increasses in taxes paid (matters not whether they increase rates, add new taxes, or reduce/delete deductions); sure, let's take more earned money (capital) out of the economy and expect to see growth. See how long your mule works when you keep cutting his feed in half month after month. (Hint: after a while, it dies!)
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