Another trip to the grocery store

[moniss]

(the super mart, uh-huh) on Saturday and I'm noticing some more price reluctance as high priced meat sits longer and a greater amount of it sits in the case closer to the "sell/use" date than before. Cold meats in the deli are now fairly well all over $9.00 per pound and a good portion of them over $11.00. The deli counter was very quiet with only an occasional person walking up.

This was at the big chain place. The higher end place where I get good produce deals wasn't on my list this week but their "fresh" meat case has always been a tad higher but the clientele, with the exception of yours truly, has always been mostly upper middle class and above. Despite a higher price for things their meat department had always been very busy. Until now. I see noticeably fewer people buying or even approaching the counter.

Combined with a drastically reduced jobs report I am also seeing more vehicles sitting on front lawns with "For Sale" signs in the window. That's always been an indicator for me when I observe that things have "turned". Families reducing expenses and that "extra" vehicle and insurance cost is an important change to watch. Along with reducing vacations, meals out etc.

The pull back has been noticeable and it is wise for consumers. Many credit card companies have escalated interest rates to well over 20% and some with balances are seeing over 28%. Rough waters ahead and consumers would be wise to figure more on "making things last", stretching meals, cutting down on streaming/cable subscriptions, getting aggressive about reducing phone costs etc.

[mucifer]

1. Luckily tofu is still 2 blocks for $5. It can be easily seasoned lots of ways.

[littlemissmartypants]

13. How to make tofu from scratch

[JanMichael]

40. Beat me to it. Maybe this will lead to more vegans.

And less factory farmed and killed animals.

Maybe .

[ProfessorGAC]

2. Consumer Spending Over The Last 90 Days...

...has still continued to climb at a greater rate than inflation, but....
• Savings rates have fallen each of the last 3 months.
• Credit card balances continue to rise.
That isn't sustainable so, there may be a wider scope to the situation you observed. Not reflective of the overall economy, just yet. But, could certainly be coming.

[moniss]

7. Indeed and some of the reported

increase has been attributed to people trying to beat the price increases from tariffs. There is also a need to look at consumer spending in ways beyond total dollars and examine number of transactions for example. Rising prices for things, especially ones excluded from inflation data, can mask a pulling back somewhat because consumer spending is expressed in total dollars rather than rates of purchasing. As you point out this will express itself over the coming months.

The unemployment figures can also sometimes mask what is actually happening in the job market as we know. When things get bad they always say "Well we don't know how many people have just given up looking for employment" and they are correct in that statement but that number can be immense as time goes on.

[spinbaby]

8. Many people are stocking up

We won’t discuss my freezer full of coffee and chocolate.

[moniss]

9. We could be in for a really tough winter. nt

[littlemissmartypants]

14. Ditto.

[ALBliberal]

34. Should I freeze coffee?

Our cabinet is getting overflowing?

[berniesandersmittens]

10. I seen a commercial recently

That offered a pay day loan. The actor was buying groceries with their new "pay day freedom".

It was extremely sad.

[ProfessorGAC]

11. The Opposite Of Cheap Credit

The one I found annoying was for Posh Mark where the young woman was going through her closet saying "this is for a night out with the girls", "this one is for rent"....
She has expensive accessories to sell, but needs money for rent? Maybe stop spending so much money, frivolously.

[bucolic_frolic]

3. The squeeze is on

Make your nickels dribble pennies along the way.

The frozen section is calcifying. I'd bet some employee hours will be trimmed soon. This is the initial shock and eventually consumers will have to buy something. I suspect though that there will be good bargains in volume on soon-past BB date at some point.

Diets will be popular. I swear people were thinner in the 1970s before carbs and carbs and colas.

[littlemissmartypants]

16. I went on a hunger strike protest during the war. I got too thin.

[bucolic_frolic]

18. Sorry to hear, that's not good for you or anyone. Which war?

[littlemissmartypants]

19. Vietnam.

[Keepthesoulalive]

4. I know things are bad when you see more expensive cars at Wally world.

This contraction has been ongoing, people stopped shopping for entertainment and the malls closed also we have lost a lot of mom and pop businesses after COVID. He just put rocket boosters on inflation.

[dalton99a]

5. The Trump recession is becoming more obvious by the day

[SWBTATTReg]

6. I agree w/ your analysis. To add more to your mix, I'd add to expect a slowdown in jobs or an increase in layoffs.

and pair that w/ the (in my mind) an anticipated surge in those seeking more part-time work, to make ends meet, or pay the bills, etc. Slowdowns in home sales will impact many areas of the economy, and slowdown in the auto market too, will mean more and more people will retain their cars even longer, repair what they can repair (or not, and see if they can get by w/o the repair). Even if tRUMP the gutter mouth jawbones the Fed to lower interest rates, it won't help the avg. person on the streets, instead, it'll help the 1% even more, who have rec'd a giant tax cut, via their buddy djt. Nice, isn't it?

I repeat clips/portions of some of my prior posts, don't spend big bucks on stuff. Run tRUMP's economy into the ground even more than what tRUMP is going to run the economy into the ground. Make businesses really work hard to earn a dollar from all of us, don't reward them so their stocks will keep going up and up, after all, most of us don't see that increase, just the 1%ers. Everything we do, expressly w/ our wallets, hurts these 1%ers, and we shouldn't feel guilty, since they have been sticking this constantly increases in prices back on us and our families, friends, etc. to pay.

Hang in there.

[Arthur_Frain]

12. But they keep beating the propaganda drum about lower prices

Meanwhile I’ve never seen a chub of shitty ground beef go for $8 before.

The brand name tri mix pre cut 4 pack of burgers started retailing at $10 when they came out a couple years ago. Wait long enough and you’d luck into a clearance at $4.50 a package. For $1.12.5 a patty that was a sweet score.


$13.99 now. Sale price is 8 and some change. They’re selling Wendy’s burger meat for $9 a four pack here. Ground turkey is up to $17-22 / 3 lbs pack depending on grade. Pringles $2.50 a can. Gallon of milk $4.29 discounted to $3.33 approaching it’s sell by date.

How long before this collapses on itself?

[The Madcap]

15. Orange juice - $7.99/gallon

I stopped buying it when it crossed $5 during Covid. I haven't bought it since then.

[Arthur_Frain]

21. Sadly I just stopped buying draft beers at $8 the pint.

Still one place I know on the highway I can get a $3 12 oz pour, but it’s the last one.

[moniss]

24. When I became of age a 12 ounce was what

we called a "shorty tapper" and was 35 cents for Pabst, Schlitz etc. and it was what you tapped as a chaser to having a shot. A mug of beer went for 75 cents. Serious beer drinking meant you ordered a bottle of beer rather than tap. Hamms, Meister Brau, Blatz you ordered a bottle and nursed it while the bottle went from nice and cold to "get the last slug out of it". The old boys seemed to prefer their beer in a bottle while they smoked their pipe. Some might pour it into a small 6 ounce "shorty glass" with a beer company logo on it but most just tugged on the bottle every now and then in between drags on their pipe and swapping stories.

[moniss]

23. Here in Dairyland we had

always seen for the last few years that milk was around $2.49 or so every day price and $1.99 on sale. Now we see sale pricing at $2.89. Still cheap compared to other states but in Dairyland that is some very noticeable shift.

[littlemissmartypants]

17. Cereal and powered milk...here we come.

[msongs]

20. revenge of the cows n pigs nt

[Skittles]

22. some stuff I can afford but I refuse to buy

the prices are ridiculous; I am in solidarity with the folk who are struggling

[moniss]

25. I'm with you and it is something I notice

very much about seniors picking up a package, looking at it and then putting it back. It is heartbreaking to me to know that someone may have wanted it but after a lifetime of work they perhaps can't buy some basic item in the store. I pay attention to how and what older people are buying, also since I'm older myself even than many I see. I have hated for a long time what I see happening to seniors in this country.

[Skittles]

26. a big problem is that ANY issue that comes up can easily wreck a budget

a health thing, dental, vet, car, etc

it's like it all stacked against people getting ahead

[moniss]

28. I've seen people struggle and fight throughout their

lives and watched small gains get wiped away and they get knocked back many steps or knocked down entirely. Then they get back up and struggle to right the ship again and then they get knocked back again. Over and over. Been there myself. I'm too ornery to give up.

I've watched families get evicted. I've watched farm foreclosure auctions with families watching standing by or in their house while their lives are sold for pennies on the dollar. In times past there was more of a community and close by family members that could help from falling completely into homelessness. That has gotten to be less and less available to help people when they struggle.

Our media would rather show us Taylor Swift than to show us about homeless school children living in cars. Out of sight and out of mind is the rule of the day. That is a government strategy as well because what is "out of mind" can be downplayed and funding denied much more easily since there will be less political pressure or blow-back.

[Skittles]

39. .......

I AM SO FUCKING SICK of hearing about Taylor Swift and those Kelce guys, I just do not CARE at all about a bubblegummy pop singer or ANY fucking sports. I agree that more of the REAL WORLD needs to be shown in the news and less of this celebrity worship crap.

[markodochartaigh]

27. Yesterday at Publix canned beans were two dollars each.

And this was on sale. Granted, they were 22 ounce cans, and they were fancy varieties. But two dollars. Walmart is still much cheaper, but I may be getting out the crockpot for my beans soon.

[moniss]

29. For the longest time I can remember

Great Northern beans in the bag were super cheap. Not anymore. Now they are routinely just over $2.00 for a 1 pound bag. Same price hamburger was years back. To get a perspective I still buy pork on sale for $1.99 per pound and if somebody would have told me years ago that the day would come when beans cost more than the pork to have with them I would have thought they were crazy. We used to think of the beans as a cheap extender for having meat. Now it's the other way around sometimes.

[DJ Synikus Makisimus]

30. You mean your wages haven't gone up commensurate with prices?

If only there were a political party willing to do something about that, like linking wages (or retirement income if you're my age) with inflation in perpetuity. But there's not. Doing so might affect the wealth portfolios of HUNDREDS among the elite, many of whom donate lots of "free speech" to all two parties.

[W_HAMILTON]

31. Yeah, that's bullshit, but that """both sides""" misinformation has helped keep enough Democrats out of power...

...to keep them from passing and signing into law a federal minimum wage increase.

House Democrars recently passed a federal minimum wage increase -- it was blocked by McConnell and his Senate Republicans.

When Democrats won back the Senate, they tried to pass a federal minimum wage increase again, but it was voted down, most notably by Sinema who later got ran out of the party for her antics.

The last time the federal minimum wage was increased was when voters gave Democrats significant political majorities in both chambers and, until they do so again, it will continue to be stuck right where Republicans want it.

[DJ Synikus Makisimus]

35. The "big tent" will see to it that nothing happens.

You cite Sinema as the culprit, but if it hadn't been her it would have been someone else. Manchin comes to mind, but there were others too. She just took the heat. I noticed the conspicuous absence of any minimum wage discussion in the last election.

The paradox, of course, is that Democrats think they can't win without the "big tent," but once empowered can't pass (or even introduce) any legislation with it. All that's left is "to bipartisan" with their "friends." And with friends like that....

[ALBliberal]

32. I really appreciate this post where approximately are you located?

Also might have a car for sale because a spouse lost a job.

[moniss]

36. Wisconsin.nt

[Emile]

33. I worry we are at the edge of another republican depression.

[moniss]

37. Yes I don't want to see a return to the

'70's but I'm afraid we're headed there or something similar. Prices going high despite what the CPI shows because everybody knows what their eyes, wallets and purses tell them.

[markodochartaigh]

38. And in the 70's

we also had a stagnant economy with unemployment and recessions. The fed can't lower interest rates to stimulate the economy and get it out of recession because lower interest rates can cause inflation. And they can't raise interest rates to fight inflation because higher interest rates slow the economy and increase unemployment. It took years to get us out of that with officials who were reality based. Who knows what will happen with Trump's delusional dunderheads.

[Skittles]

41. Trump has literally never gone grocery shopping in his entire life

he just doesn't fucking get it