Massive inflation crushing working poor in America.

[Selatius]

...

"It even costs more to get the basics like soap and laundry detergent," said Michelle Grassia, who lives with her husband and three teenage children in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, N.Y.

Her husband's check from his job at a grocery store used to last four days. "Now, it lasts only two," she said.

To make up the difference, Grassia buys one gallon of milk a week instead of three. She sometimes skips breakfast and lunch to make sure there's enough food for her children. She cooks with a hot plate because gas is too expensive. And she depends more than ever on the bags of free vegetables and powdered milk from a local food pantry.

Grassia's story is neither new nor unique. With the fastest-rising food and energy prices since the 1980s, low-income consumers are stretching their budgets by eating cheap foods like peanut butter and pasta.

Industry analysts and some economists fear the strain will get worse as people are hit with higher home heating bills this winter and mortgage rates go up.

...

Egg prices were 44 percent higher, while milk was up 21.3 percent over the past 12 months to nearly $4 a gallon, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071019/ap_on_bi_ge/stretching_paychecks

We have enough money to occupy other countries and kill people but not enough to help the poor? I wish we had more New Deal Democrats. They wouldn't stand for this neglect of the people who built this country.

[CountAllVotes]

1. "stretching their budgets by eating cheap foods"

and the scientific community, et al. wonders why there is an explosion in obesity rates and adult onset diabetes?

:tinfoilhat:

K&R

[TheFarseer]

2. If I was making what I was in college

(that was about 5-10 years ago) it would be hard to make ends meet. Nothing is cheep anymore. You used to be able to get spaghetti for half what it is now. Fruit is way more expensive. Eggs cost almost 3 times as much. You really have to watch the sales on meat. Bread is at least twice as much. Of course there's hardly any inflation! :sarcasm:

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

6. Incredibly, I made more money an hour as a part-time server in college than,...

,...I ever have after acquiring an advance degree.

Then, again, I worked at places that had generous tippers. :shrug:

[Selatius]

12. Working at places with generous tippers is how one fellow student I know gets by.

She makes like 25,000/year at this restaurant when adding in her tips.

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

3. I recommend this OP.

I keep asking myself, "how the hell are people making it"? I don't even want to go into my own story because it just seems too pitiful for even me to accept. Besides, these days, the poor and struggling, those surviving hard knocks and tough times are kicked to the curb.

[WinkyDink]

4. And where are the TV news stories about inflation? More suppression.

[SoCalDem]

10. There is no inflation, you heretic..

And the market is doing GREAT..just GREAT..
(except when it tanks, like today)

and "everyone knows" that China is BOOMING,I tell ya..BOOMING!!


and there are JOBS JOBS JOBS going begging..
and a soon as we deport all those "illegals", you too can have a fantastic job shinnying up a 100 ft palm tree, juggling a chainsaw :)

so quitcherbellyaching and go find a wall at any nearby Home Depot..and get to work :)

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. We are collectively imagining this

it ain't real

:sarcasm:

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

8. Do NOT assume "those" people are telling the truth about reality.

Otherwise, you are not being "rational"!

Good gawd and gawdess and the almighty, all ready!!!

[Selatius]

9. Yeah, because everybody knows workers ignore food and energy when gauging inflation for themselves.

Workers look at "core inflation" that economists on Wall Street look at. :sarcasm:

[TheFarseer]

18. inflation only includes plastic crap imported from China

computers used to cost over $2,000 and now they are only maybe $500. We are in a period of deflation! It's a miracle! All Hail George the Second!!!

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

21. That revelation FLOORED me. Bushco excludes food and fuel from inflation calculations.

Well, they ARE operating on an entirely different financial planet than 95% of the country so they MUST adjust,...for that, I guess,...to sustain themselves.

How much does Limbaugh the SHILL for corporacrats make a year kicking anyone who challenges the corporatocracy to the curb or down the street of human hatred (so similar to Rwanda it makes me shudder)? Would he ever question the fact that basic American human needs (and we're not including the astronomical costs of HEALTH CARE,...that would be a basic human need, too) are left out of the accounting of this country's economy? *lol* He'd suddenly become just another one of us if he acknowledged those facts. That would be horrible, for him,...becoming a member of humanity. No profit in that.

I may live without many things but I have a life rich with relationships and experiences and common stands (oh, those are the most precious): and genuine concerns, compassion, love, laughter, pain, inspiration. I'm sure Limbaugh could no more live my life than I could ever imagine living his,...and that kinda' bothers me except he has swallowed the key to the locked door, just as all those who profit off creating enemies from innocent people swallow any possibility of a better humanity. They are self-protectionists and no longer care about the people around them. They can't.

I'm ranting. Actually, I'm crying.

I am crying because, the vast majority of people I've encountered in my lifetime are decent, concerned, discerningly 'moral', hard-working individuals who care about MORE than just themselves. They CARE about their children and neighbor and this nation and are willing to contribute to make life better for MORE than themselves. People in this country CARE ABOUT MORE THAN JUST THEMSELVES. I'll bet my LIFE I've had more exposure to more people in a greater variety of circumstances than George W Bush or ANY of his junta in THIS COUNTRY. I'll bet my LIFE this junta has done NOTHING unless it benefited themselves in some way.

Ranting on, I am amazed this junta believes in its own omnipotence to hold or offer any "vision" when none of its members risk being exposed to anything outside ideological boundaries. What "vision" could possibly be offered by people intentionally tunneling themselves into a spot with no lights at either end? It's all war or all loss? Okay, okay,...I get that,...it works,...in a fucking TUNNEL!!!

Oh,...I am being diverted by some Georgian scientist presented on CNN bitching about Gore sharing the Peace Prize. Why is this man getting attention?

Here we go. I've had it. I am a non-violent person,...I want to kick that man, every man on CNN who has brought this guy on the network,...in the balls. STRAIGHT IN THE GROIN LIKE EVERY CRIMINAL DESERVES!!!!

GRRRRRRRRRR :grr:

[Mike03]

7. The Genie is Out of the Bottle

It's a relief to see an honest reckoning of what is obvious to our eyes, but which our leaders and certain business channels continue to deny.

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

14. I suppose there's some relief yahoo news is revealing it.

I'm sorry. My intention isn't to be rude towards you.

I simply do not foresee a 'genie out of the bottle' thing ever happening under these circumstances. There are way too many controls on the buttons of truth, too damn many hired hands working full-time to suppress the facts.

What IS a relief: people are talking in spite of controlled messaging. Hell, they've been talking since BEFORE 2004. There is no way the results reflected what I saw. That's why I suspect there are even greater manipulations at work in this country and I am no 'conspiracy nut' that talks outta' my arse for the interest in mental acrobatics.

I read, a lot, and observe and listen,...and last but not least, process information (i.e. THINK). I've threatened (myself) to map everything this administration has done to deconstruct this country but resisted because I need to experience the moments/opportunities of joy in my life before I leave this world.

I hope you are correct, Mike. I hope the "genie" IS out of the bottle.

[Mike03]

16. I understand, but do you remember Jim Cramer's meltdown?

The more the interests of the financial industry become jeopardized by circumstances (such as damage to consumer spending figures), the more of these honest, candid explosions I think we will see.

The "R" word is even being discussed in the mainstream media where I live in Arizona--the R word of course being Recession.

Some things can't be hidden, don't you think?

ON EDIT:

Of course, you could be correct, but if you are correct, this will only hurt the working class and struggling Americans. I have some faith that people are attempting to pay attention at this point, but perhaps that is an overly optimistic view.

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

24. Everytime I tune into CNN, I have to turn it off. CNN "used" to be, somewhat, news worthy.

I turn it on: scandal about donations from poor Chinese in America (meanwhile, CHINA OWNS US and Bushco's trumping our workers/products for China's)

Turn it off

Turn it on: Limbaugh donates to charity ebay auction of Democratic condemnation letter

Turn it off

Turn it on: Georgia scientist unhappy Gore shares in Nobel Peace Prize.

Turn it off

For better or worse, most people turn on their teevees to get away from the stresses of their day and/or catch up on what's going on around them and/or figure what the future may bring. Very little of what they tune into informs them. To the contrary, great effort is required to be informed,...even though, in a democratic nation, free information should flow. Then, maybe, "free markets" would no longer dam people and the environment.

[Mike03]

26. Very True

I was specifically thinking of CNBC, where they used to consistently encourage naive investors to get into a dangerous, extremely hazardous market. There is certainly still some of that, but more balance as it becomes more obvious we face peril.

As was pointed out on another thread, the real threat, as I see it, is not that sophisticated investors are going to be hurt in this market, but that working class Americans invested in typical U.S. mutual funds will be severely hurt. I listen to these financial programs on both TV and radio, and so many well-intentioned amateur investors are defenseless and clueless on how precarious our financial status is. They don't even know what the deficits are. They are still investing in tech stocks.

[VP505]

11. Why that just

couldn't be, after all the SS COLA will be 2.3%, about $24.00 for the average retiree. Someone must be using some of that fuzzy math the Pres told us about to show that prices are way up. :sarcasm:

[shireen]

13. "Samuels has seen more clients in higher-paying jobs — the $35,000 range — line up for food."

outrageous!

These people are treated like they're invisible.

Republican economics at work. It's cruel and selfish.

[tekisui]

15. It is criminal that such a thing exists as the "Working Poor".

[Megahurtz]

28. Especially In

"the wealthiest Country in the World". :eyes:

[flashl]

17. College degree may not be enough to protect against poverty

Degree not enough

A rise in college attendance coupled with downsizing, outsourcing and a shortage of high-paying jobs is bolstering the ranks of the educated poor, people with college degrees who don't earn above the national poverty line, economists said.

== snip ==

According to recent U.S. Census estimates, the number of college graduates earning below the poverty line has more than doubled in the past 15 years to almost 6 million people.

== snip ==

Jared Bernstein, a senior economist with the Economic Policy Institute, said about 16 percent of U.S. college graduates are working jobs that don't require a degree.

"That's squandering a resource," he said.

The problem is more acute in Florida where the state economy is powered primarily by tourism and retiree industries with an abundance of service jobs and not high-paying jobs, said Dave Denslow, a University of Florida economist.

Employment experts said that forces graduates to lower their expectations.

---

Individuals with degrees are no longer guaranteed a safety net.

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

25. AH! I have the answer: not enough science and math graduates!!!!

Ask the science and math graduates! :rofl:

I do not know about you but I have talked with many a parent with "graduated" kids taking service jobs. It would be different if they were searching for six to 18 months but we are talking two to three years at $28K or less.

Sadly, all of us can ONLY "look up", not get up, from here. ALL THE ECONOMIC POWER is up there while our knees are breaking,...and it is growing ever more burdensome,...and those fuckers will break us long before they will ever bend. Trust me on this. They have all ready bankrupted OUR nation and safe locked OUR treasures into THEIR pockets (supposedly, for bullshitz sake) somewhere beyond our laws.

We won't recover a damn dime.

Now. What are we going to do? What.

[flashl]

29. This tells the story ...

The Great Wealth Transfer

It's the biggest untold economic story of our time: more of the nation's bounty held in fewer and fewer hands.

The gap between the nation's CEOs and average workers is now ten times greater than it was a generation ago.

CEO pay has soared -- from less than thirty times the average wage to almost 300 times the typical worker's pay.

Since Bush has taken office the pay for CEOs, has soared -- from 185 times that of average workers in 2003 to 279 times in 2005.

According to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, the hourly wage of the average American non-supervisory worker is actually lower, than it was in 1970.

---

Organized looting.

What to do? It will probaby get solved when will we realize that there are more of us than there are of them.

[Selatius]

30. What's sad about your post is that the only people getting ahead are bankers who give student loans

People are barely keeping afloat in many cases, but the banker is sitting pretty.

[taught_me_patience]

19. Inflation is well contained according to

Shrub, Bernanke, and Paulson.

:sarcasm:


Don't forget that food and gas are not counted in the "core" inflation statistics!

[lovuian]

20. All the staples in diets are up

and when gas prices goes up its going to take out a bunch of families
Recession is here

[malaise]

22. The poor are completely absent from any discussion

on MSM.

[NMMNG]

23. Come on now

We have enough money to occupy other countries and kill people but not enough to help the poor?

If we don't constantly invade other countries and kill people we'll be in perpetual danger. Freedom isn't free, you know. :crazy:

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

27. We could start a thread on how much taxpayers fund the war profiteers under BushCo.

But, that would be yet another inconvenient truth, huh.

It's sick, though,...really,...the amount of money embezzled from this nation's people to produce mass weapons of mass destruction on both humanity and this earth!!!

What's it up to, now: the "defense" budget (without the additional BILLIONS SPENT ON KILLING IRAQI PEOPLE): $350 or $360 BILLION DOLLARS? BILLION.

BILLION DOLLARS!!

BILLION!!!!

I'm thinking an extra thousand could make my life better. IMAGINE A BILLION!!! HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS!!!!

My life isn't any better on those billions, hundreds of billions being spent for "defense". I need a "defense" from unemployment and illness and hateful radio people who call me an enemy simply because, if their life turned sour, I'd advocate that they and their family deserve some help.

What is the matter with those hateful people who are willing to attack someone like me who has the capacity to care about them but say nothing about three hundred billion of their dollars spent on human corruption and destruction?

Are they mad?

[AuntPatsy]

32. And what is more horrifying is that there are people that actually

will respond to such charges with your very last line completely straight faced and seemingly in full possession of their senses.

[Lugnut]

31. No shit.

K&R