primitives whine about the cost of things

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025225649

Oh my.

Except the prices they pay their windfall-profiteering dope dealers, of course.

xchrom (104,264 posts)    Fri Jul 11, 2014, 07:32 AM

Family Dollar CEO Offers An Ominous Insight About His Customers

http://www.businessinsider.com/family-dollars-ceo-comments-2014-7

Family Dollar CEO Howard Levine doesn't think his cash-strapped consumers are benefiting from economic recovery.

In fact, he thinks things are getting worse.

The company reported a slip in comparable sales today, and Levine told analysts that he isn't sure when business will improve.
 
"The low end consumer has not benefited in this recovery at all in fact I think (they) have slipped further back," Levine said.
 
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/family-dollars-ceo-comments-2014-7#ixzz379ts8a7m

malaise (120,887 posts)    Fri Jul 11, 2014, 07:45 AM

1. That's the truth

RKP5637 (29,984 posts)    Fri Jul 11, 2014, 08:07 AM

3. The cost of living here continues to go up and up, I don't care what the

economists say. Just in the grocery store, for example, prices go up each week. One now sees many people standing in the isles trying to figure out what is best for the least amount of money. The prices are just extraordinary. Then, just going into big box stores and the like I see large price increases over the past few years, it's endless and ridiculous.

LuvNewcastle (6,771 posts)    Fri Jul 11, 2014, 11:20 AM

39. The price of fresh vegetables is enormously high.

I can get canned veggies for a lower price, and frozen ones for a bit more, but fresh veggies come at a premium. People need their veggies. Poor people already consume far too much junk food. I think we need to have subsidies for fresh fruit and vegetable farmers, especially the small farmers. Poor people would eat better quality food if they could afford it. I know I would. Considering the obesity and diabetes epidemics, it's a health crisis that needs to be addressed.

RKP5637 (29,984 posts)    Fri Jul 11, 2014, 11:57 AM

42. The cost of fruit here is absolutely outrageous. I get a little from time to time, but it's

just so expensive. Much of the population in the US is swept under the rug by MSM reporting. There are millions and millions in the US in the same boat, but IMO they are neglected because the suppliers can tweak their cost/price ignoring the bottom end and make a heavy profit by focusing on higher prices for those that are willing/can pay more. Less supply, more profit. It's all a game.
 
I have a friend that is a buyer for grocery chains, they say what is going on in the US is horrendous and fabricated for increased profit to feed the extraordinary greed in this county, and the gov. does little about it.

truedelphi (29,185 posts)    Fri Jul 11, 2014, 07:24 PM

74. Nectarines are now $ 2.39 a pound, and they're grown here in California.

Of course, you will her "Drought Drought Drought" all the time.

A 89 yer old recently did a letter to the editor. He talked about how when droughts were bad in the past, that people hired a charter plane and went up with silver iodide (I think it was) and then the rain seeding almost immediately caused it to rain. Since several farmers would go in on the expenses, it was not that expensive to do.
 
Now we are not supposed to do that, as cancer or something might result. My question: What results when entire neighborhoods go up in flames? And before the next big fire storm hits, how do we manage without adequate amounts of healthy food?

laundry_queen (6,915 posts)    Fri Jul 11, 2014, 12:17 PM

44. It's ridiculous

A few months ago I thought I'd do an experiment and stray from my normally strict grocery budget and try eating everything from scratch with tons of fruits and veggies (something that hadn't really been happening b/c of prices) and my grocery bill increased by 25% instantly. So I had to stop. I have a small garden, but I live in an area with a very short growing season (I'm in Canada), so it only helps me out for a couple months out of the year.
 
I did a few comparisons that were eye opening. My kids have to pack their own lunches here (no school lunches where I live) and we use some packaged foods to make it cheaper & easier, so I priced out healthy vs junk alternatives. For instance, a bag of 6 apples was $4. A box of 6 chewy granola bars was $1.50. A 3-pack of milk or soy milk drinks is $3. A 5-pack of orange 'drink' is $1.50. A pint of strawberries is $5. A box of 6 packages of chocolate covered pretzels is $2. And on and on and on. Even the comparisons for dinners - I can get a whole package of pasta on sale for $1 and a jar of sauce for $1.50. So $2.50 for a cheap meal. If I add any meat at all? it's an extra $5-15. Where I live, forget seafood. Enough cheap fish for a family meal is $10. Let's just say we only eat meat once or twice a week and instead rely on cheaper dinner alternatives. My mom was DIRT poor growing up, but they had meat nearly every day. It's a stunning contrast.
 
In the last 4 years since I've been in my area, milk has gone up by 40%, meat has increased by at least that amount and everything else is increasing at a rate of about 10-25% a year. My income is the same. I can't do it anymore (thankfully, I was a student but will graduate this year as I'm finished classes, and I will be getting a job soon so hopefully that will offset the extra costs).

LuvNewcastle (6,771 posts)    Fri Jul 11, 2014, 01:55 PM

50. Yeah, I just got me a little part-time job, so I'm able to eat better.

Before that I was living on disability, so eating healthy was out of the question. I've only been working there for about a month and I've lost 20 pounds, so that shows you how much my diet contributed to my being overweight. I think I'm going to lose more, too.
 
I get really sick of people making fun of fat poor people. It almost takes a rich person to be thin nowadays, and people who trash fat poor people are just ignorant of how hard it is for a poor person to eat healthy. It's a serious problem, and as I said in my earlier post, obesity and diabetes are epidemic in America (not sure about Canada) and it disproportionately affects people in poverty.
 
Something should be done about it, but I doubt it will. Americans seem to think that poor people are somehow immoral and deserving of their fate. It goes back to our Calvinistic Puritan streak. Sometimes I think that all the hope we have on this site for a coming rebellion against capitalism is so much wishful thinking. Americans will have to change their whole mindset for that to ever happen.

Quackers (12 posts)    Fri Jul 11, 2014, 05:35 PM

67. You are correct.

My wife went to a food bank today because we didn't have money for groceries. I thought they would give us some type of meat or something. All we received was 4 boxes of doughnuts, 2 boxes of fruit roll ups, a 2-liter of off brand pop, and a box of granola bars. Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for what we received. I just thought we would get food, not tons of sugar.

Warpy (77,365 posts)    Fri Jul 11, 2014, 10:52 AM

37. You mean the FOOD BANK?

Because that's what's happening here. They go to the food banks, then they hit Family Dollar and Big Lots for the near expiration stuff and if they have major gaps to fill, they go to the high priced store, Wal Mart.
 
I live in the area. I have witnessed the traffic flow. And yes, Wal Mart is now too expensive for marginal workers--like the ones who work at Wal Mart.
 
Better places, my flabby old ass.

^^^no comment.

[Carl]

RKP5637 (29,984 posts)    Fri Jul 11, 2014, 08:07 AM

3. The cost of living here continues to go up and up, I don't care what the

economists say. Just in the grocery store, for example, prices go up each week. One now sees many people standing in the isles trying to figure out what is best for the least amount of money. The prices are just extraordinary. Then, just going into big box stores and the like I see large price increases over the past few years, it's endless and ridiculous.

Barry said energy prices would skyrocket,why are you surprised?

LuvNewcastle (6,771 posts)    Fri Jul 11, 2014, 11:20 AM

39. The price of fresh vegetables is enormously high.

I can get canned veggies for a lower price, and frozen ones for a bit more, but fresh veggies come at a premium. People need their veggies. Poor people already consume far too much junk food. I think we need to have subsidies for fresh fruit and vegetable farmers, especially the small farmers. Poor people would eat better quality food if they could afford it. I know I would. Considering the obesity and diabetes epidemics, it's a health crisis that needs to be addressed.

It should all be FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

LuvNewcastle (6,771 posts)    Fri Jul 11, 2014, 01:55 PM

50. Yeah, I just got me a little part-time job, so I'm able to eat better.

Before that I was living on disability, so eating healthy was out of the question. I've only been working there for about a month and I've lost 20 pounds, so that shows you how much my diet contributed to my being overweight. I think I'm going to lose more, too.
 
I get really sick of people making fun of fat poor people. It almost takes a rich person to be thin nowadays, and people who trash fat poor people are just ignorant of how hard it is for a poor person to eat healthy. It's a serious problem, and as I said in my earlier post, obesity and diabetes are epidemic in America (not sure about Canada) and it disproportionately affects people in poverty.
 
Something should be done about it, but I doubt it will. Americans seem to think that poor people are somehow immoral and deserving of their fate. It goes back to our Calvinistic Puritan streak. Sometimes I think that all the hope we have on this site for a coming rebellion against capitalism is so much wishful thinking. Americans will have to change their whole mindset for that to ever happen.

 


Trust me,under the socialist paradise you yearn for you will be emaciated.

Quackers (12 posts)    Fri Jul 11, 2014, 05:35 PM

67. You are correct.

My wife went to a food bank today because we didn't have money for groceries. I thought they would give us some type of meat or something. All we received was 4 boxes of doughnuts, 2 boxes of fruit roll ups, a 2-liter of off brand pop, and a box of granola bars. Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for what we received. I just thought we would get food, not tons of sugar.

Mole doesn`t like its freebies.

Warpy (77,365 posts)    Fri Jul 11, 2014, 10:52 AM

37. You mean the FOOD BANK?

Because that's what's happening here. They go to the food banks, then they hit Family Dollar and Big Lots for the near expiration stuff and if they have major gaps to fill, they go to the high priced store, Wal Mart.
 
I live in the area. I have witnessed the traffic flow. And yes, Wal Mart is now too expensive for marginal workers--like the ones who work at Wal Mart.
 
Better places, my flabby old ass.

Obamanomics...starve to death on it bitch.

[Chris_]

They opened a Family Dollar down the street after the Albertson's store was closed.  All their products are marketed to a price point so while a $1.50 box of cereal may sound like a great deal, you're getting 1/3 of what a standard $3 box costs at the Kroger five miles down the street.

[JohnnyReb]

They opened a Family Dollar down the street after the Albertson's store was closed.  All their products are marketed to a price point so while a $1.50 box of cereal may sound like a great deal, you're getting 1/3 of what a standard $3 box costs at the Kroger five miles down the street.

Just opened a Family Dollar store way out here in the country. It's just a mile away and handy for a single item or two but IT IS NOT A CHEAP STORE FOR GROCERY SHOPPING DUmmie.

DUmmie should price a tractor and related equipment for farming "vegetables". You can't raise a family on what DUmmies think things should cost.

[Ptarmigan]

DUmmies always complaining and whining. What else is new DUmmies? 

[GOBUCKS]

I have a friend that is a buyer for grocery chains, they say what is going on in the US is horrendous and fabricated for increased profit to feed the extraordinary greed in this county, and the gov. does little about it.

I knew it!! I knew there was something going on to feed extraordinary greed!!

Things were cheaper back in the days of normal greed.

Now we all live at the mercy of Big Grocery.

[Karin]

They opened a Family Dollar down the street after the Albertson's store was closed.  All their products are marketed to a price point so while a $1.50 box of cereal may sound like a great deal, you're getting 1/3 of what a standard $3 box costs at the Kroger five miles down the street.

Dollar Tree is the same way.  Drove me nuts.  Everything for $1.  So you can get a tiny package of a couple of Tylenols, say, or a mini purse size of hair stuff.  Not practical or economical. 

The DUmmies are right, prices are skyrocketing and everyone's wages/salaries staying the same.  Thanks, obama voters. 

[USA4ME]

A whole thread and not a single primitive blames Dear Leader. If a Republican were the prez, that's all you'd read from them.

Liberals, it's so easy to see your hypocrisy. The funny thing is when you come up with excuses to explain away your two-faced views.

.

[obumazombie]

Checking on lib's voter remorse for owebuma...none yet.

[BlueStateSaint]

Checking on lib's voter remorse for owebuma...none yet.

Check again November 5th.

[Tess Anderson]

A whole thread and not a single primitive blames Dear Leader. If a Republican were the prez, that's all you'd read from them.

Liberals, it's so easy to see your hypocrisy. The funny thing is when you come up with excuses to explain away your two-faced views.

.

and so would their allies in the MSM. The price of a regular gallon of gas here is $3.99/gal, and it's been that high for weeks. When Bush was president and gas prices spiked high, that was all the media talked about but I have heard a thing on the local or national mews about it now.

High gas price affects everything, especially grocery prices.

[I_B_Perky]

Well dummies... I have no sympathy. None. Zip. Zilch. Nada. You got what you wanted... obumbles got elected to a second term. Now embrace the suck!!! 

Personally I hope all ya all starve to death. Serves you right. You were warned.

[obumazombie]

It's almost like there's a connection to costs like minimum wage, and the price companies have to charge for their goods and services.
The connection almost seems like it's a direct proportional link.

[Dori]

Personally I hope all ya all starve to death. Serves you right. You were warned.

This morning on one of those financial news shows they said food costs have gone up almost 24% in the past year.

Of course food increases are not counted in the inflation rate, which seems dumb.

[DumbAss Tanker]

Impossible, the worst economy ever ended in January 2009, we have been living in pure milk and honey since then, in the best economy ever under the bestest Prexydent ever.

 

[I_B_Perky]

This morning on one of those financial news shows they said food costs have gone up almost 24% in the past year.

Of course food increases are not counted in the inflation rate, which seems dumb.

Seems like a lot more than that Dori!

[GOBUCKS]

I tried to check our grocery spending, because I can't tell it's gone up.

I always use my debit card for groceries, and go one day a week.

Some of our meat and fish is buried in our Costco spending, and I couldn't count it, but everything else comes from Publix.

I totaled up April-May 2013 vs. April-May 2014.

The 2014 spending was two percent LESS than 2013 for, as far as I know, exactly the same groceries.

I'm sure some things have gone up in price, but apparently other things have gone down.

I never look at prices in the store (except to occasionally marvel at how stupid it would be to pay the enormous "organic" premium).

I just look at the total when I check out, and it hasn't really changed.