It's a great time for US consumers: America is on sale

[XemaSab]

Source: AP

There has never been a better time to be a consumer. America is on sale.

The Great Recession has caused massive job losses and hardship for millions, but it has also fostered a shoppers' paradise. Anyone who still has the means to spend can find unheard of deals.

Prices on everything from clothes to coffee to cat food are dropping, some faster than they have in half a century. Items rarely discounted - like Tiffany engagement rings - are now. The two biggest purchases most people make - homes and new cars - are selling at steep price reductions.

"This is the new normal," says Donald Keprta, president of Dominick's, a supermarket chain in the Midwest, which just cut prices by as much as 30 percent on thousands of items. "We aren't going back."

Read more: http://www.redding.com/news/2009/oct/05/its-a-great-time-for-us-consumers-america-is-on/

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(No comment.)

[flamingdem]

1. It's an even better time for the Chinese and those with Euros buying things up nt

[Sherman A1]

2. This is after they ran these prices up in

2007, (particularly groceries) so in many instances, they have come down, but to somewhere approaching what they were in many cases before the great (gas is $4.00 per gallon and we need to raise our prices, scam on consumers).

[No Elephants]

3. First, I have not noticed this huge sale. In fact, I've been wondering how people are getting away

with raising prices in these times, and how they justify it to themselves.

Second, how out of touch with reality do the folks at AP have to be to write that headline?

[harmonicon]

6. 1: the dollar isn't worth shit

I would imagine with products, or at least materials, coming from all over the world, the dollar just doesn't buy as much as it used to, so prices have to go up.

2: the AP is seriously fucking out of touch, and are now not much more than a right-wing propaganda machine

[XemaSab]

34. My serious response was "How is deflation a good thing?"

:o

[Goldom]

4. Wow!

Things are great for people with money, and suck for everyone else! Let's just read that line again.

"The Great Recession has caused massive job losses and hardship for millions, but it has also fostered a shoppers' paradise."

You can put a positive spin on ANYTHING. This article proves it.

[Divine Discontent]

10. "hardship for millions", yeah, but the rich are loving it! You can't hide what the article is really

saying - unless you're a cold hearted ass-ole, one would be hard-pressed to realize that people are suffering.

[comtec]

20. This is surprising how?

Sadly, I do live in the EU, and I do have €uros to spend.
When I visit usually my wife and I come with one empty suitcase, and one semi full, and leave with two over-packed suitcases.
Last time that included a laptop!

Mind you I would move back in a heartbeat if I could. If it was feasible and I had health insurance to cover her Diabetes I!

[BumRushDaShow]

5. What price drops?

:wtf:

AP is living in a faux unreality world. As it is, gas prices here are finally dropping below $2.70/gallon. :eyes:

[harmonicon]

7. The price drops on diamond rings, silly!

Didn't you read that? Now you can spend more of your money on Faberge eggs, or save it to host an extra-special caviar party!

[CountAllVotes]

25. silly silly ... !!

it is still $3.41 a gallon here in not so sunny California!

:mad:

:kick:

[pinniped]

44. The low price is still $3.20/gallon here in San FranRIPOFFcisco.

.

[fasttense]

8. Hmm, I was always taught that when prices fall it's a DEPRESSION STUPID.

How can these idiots call it the Great Recession when the definition of a Depression is dropping prices, and that's what the whole story is about. They seem to contradict themselves in every sentence. It's the 2nd Republicon Great DEPRESSION

So, this illogical, ignorant babble is what is passing for journalism today? My how the mighty have fallen, down the stairs, thru the coal chute and into the root cellar.

[area51]

22. +1

We've been in the 2nd Great Depression since 2001. And we know what will help us get out of it, the very things "our" elected officials won't do: single-payer to save lives and make employees cheaper to hire and healthier, get rid of NAFTA/GATT, start WPA again, start manufacturing here again, etc.

[Divine Discontent]

9. I get asked to ship items overseas A LOT more on ebay than I used to...

I don't like filling out the customs forms, and having had some things in the past not make it to the buyer, I don't like sending much over that is beyond a certain value. They act like the prices are pennies on the dollar to them (lol.. I know, they kinda are!)

[truthisfreedom]

11. 'scuse please? Everything seems about the same price to me.

I seriously have not noticed anything dropping in price.

What a bunch of hooey this article is purporting.

[CountAllVotes]

31. I agree w/you

I haven't seen any great deals on anything either. Where are these "deals". Things at the grocery store are if anything more. I went to Costco last week to "stock up". Usually the bill with them is about $100.00 or so. This past week it was $175.00! I got a trunk not filled with food, etc. and most of the items I bought are long gone.

It is a bunch of BULLSHIT IMO.

:kick:

[voteearlyvoteoften]

12. Coffee

Um yeah they almost doubled the price of coffee last year, and now they put it on sale for the price it used to be every day.
So many items went way up when gas was high last year, and they are still way up.

[katkat]

13. food prices are down, clothes prices are down

Food prices are down, clothes prices are down at least where I live. And TrueValue sends out $5 off $20 orders coupons about monthly.

Plus, haggling has returned. Just mention the price seems a bit high, and presto they reduce it. I feel a slight pang when someone gives me a discount, but presumably they're still making a profit or they wouldn't sell at that price. It just makes me wonder how high the prices were jacked up previously.

And no, I am not running around buying anything other than what I need.

A very nice little bungalow near me sold for $40,000 a week or two ago. A couple of years ago in the housing bubble that would have been $150,000. So lots of people who couldn't afford houses now can because prices are more rational. We forget that constant inflation is not normal nor desirable.

[corpseratemedia]

14. my food keeps shrinking

i guess you can look like you're lowering the prices when you cut a half or more servings out of a product.

[madmom]

15. Just read where the price of natural gas is going up.Just in time huh?

[WriteDown]

19. My buddy works in natural gas leasing and he mentioned...

this the other day. Said he's excited because the price of natural gas is rising. Won't be a good thing for me this winter though.

[madmom]

27. Me neither. The thing that makes me so mad though, is there is supposed to be plenty of it ready to

use. I cause this is just another way for the elitists to take our money.

[WriteDown]

28. My friend is no elitist....

Frustrating that his gain is my loss though.

[madmom]

29. Not necessarily talking about your friend, but the big wigs in the offices up stairs.

[WriteDown]

30. That too is frustrating...

This is a small private firm. Only about 10 people. The owner came from a meager background, but picked an industry that ended up doing well. My friend is hoping to follow the same path and open his own firm.

[durablend]

16. Prices on cat food are dropping?!?

On what planet? They went up after the whole pet food recall thing and never came back down.

[CountAllVotes]

26. right you are

I am paying $125.00 for a 4 month supply of cat food made here in California. Costly yes but a lot cheaper than a bunch of veterinarian bills (vet charges a minimum of $50.00 a visit and that does not include medications) and I won't mention dead cats!

:(

[Robb]

17. "By Rachel Beck, Associated Press"

Idiot, or genius ironic wit? I'm voting idiot. :D

[pattmarty]

18. The way things are with a MAJORITY of Americans, they better.................

.............lower their prices or else they'll be sitting on their products. If peoples incomes are "cut" to 1/3 or more than what they were through unemployment or underemployment the only way they will continue to purchase even some of the items they did is for companies to discount. If they don't the products will just "sit".

[Odin2005]

21. Fuck the AP! Things are on sale because PEOPLE HAVE NO MONEY!!!

It is called DEFLATION, and it's not a good thing. In fact, it is a destroyer of economies.

[phantom power]

23. Recessions and Depressions are awesome, if you have money.

People who kept their jobs through the Great Depression did rather well. Often better than they had before. It's just that pesky other 30% who endured abject poverty.

[slackmaster]

24. But there's still no ammo at Wal-Mart

:nuke:

[mnhtnbb]

32. Whole chickens were on sale at our market for $.57/lb--limit of 4--

and we had roast chicken--with leftovers--for our family of 4 that cost not much more than $3.00


I bought two and put one in the freezer.

[mnhtnbb]

33. On the other hand, we made an offer on a house a couple of weeks ago

at 96% of asking price and the seller countered at full price! Within 16 hours of our offer, there were
three (3) more offers on the house, but as of yesterday, the seller still had not sold her house!

[blueworld]

35. Ooooh, Tiffany engagement rings?! And foreclosed homes & cars made in Asia?

God bless America! If my bank doesn't yank too many fees out of my unemployment card, I can have the cheap cat food for dinner, too!

Journalists like this should be forced to muck out stalls. Idiot.

[XemaSab]

36. Why does this bring to mind some of the images from post-apocalyptic fiction

where society falls and people go loot the jewelry store. After looting, they realize diamonds can't be eaten, so they sit there all depressed, covered in bling? :(

[Alexander]

37. "Let us be thankful we have commerce. Buy more. Buy more now. Buy."

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Cw9kkrVf0oQ/RzPjJ1NRdhI/AAAAAAAAA4s/EJVn_73tQoc/s400/thx1138+crop.jpg

[demigoddess]

38. my local grocery stores are taking things off the shelf that I used to buy

Almost every time I go in there is something I cannot find. And they have stopped asking 'Did you find everything you wanted?'. I kind of like that part. But it is telling. And my local fabric store doesn't seem to have the selection it had 2 years ago. And we have lost all our craft supply stores.

[XemaSab]

41. In the last year

Gottschalks, Mervyn's, and Circuit City have gone out of business here.

These were all anchor stores in some of the local shopping centers. :(

[Zorra]

39. America has been "on sale" since the first day Reagan took office.

And I'm not talking about Twinkies.

[Rex]

40. Don't care, I won't buy one cent more then I need.

Fuck the greedy rich, I hope they choke on all the expensive/now cheaper crap they buy. Let the uber rich fix the economy! Til I see honest people wanting to run things ethically, I won't spend a single extra dime on the economy. I didn't fuck it up!

[Deja Q]

42. How many times has anybody in the media say "the new normal"?

More Orwellian bullshit or conditioning or both?

[pinniped]

43. Sleazy car dealers seem to be doing OK.

The last two I've visited didn't want to drop the price one cent. One scumbag dealer even tried to sneak in an extra $100 over what the window sticker displayed.

Those fuckers probably think they're all that because of that bailout bullshit. Soon, these fuckers will be begging for another taxpayer funded handout.

This article is bullshit!