So I was at the grocer's today and

[moniss]

although a week ago some beef prices had moderated they were back up to nearly the high of the year. Maybe price gouging for the holidays. I still saw few people around the meat case and the few that were just stared and weren't picking anything into their carts. When the public moves to belt tightening it is not something that changes back with a snap of the fingers and a "sale" or two.

I think people are well aware of the other costs in their lives going up. No amount of "creative" GDP or other numbers or proclamations from the fascists of price reductions that in the end are more aspirational than immediate are going to turn the herd back to spending as freely as before. Those of us who have lived through the general American public going into a belt tightening several times before know how this goes.

The bottom line is that people know what the ink on the paycheck says and elusive claims of "lower costs" down the road don't do squat to change that ink or the ink on the bills to be paid. Another one of the old tried and true signals of general belt tightening is when you see more and more vehicles sitting on front lawns and other areas with "For Sale" signs on them. I've seen that ramping up for the last few months. People are selling that 2nd or 3rd car. Getting rid of them not only brings in some cash but it also lowers costs for the household going forward.

We need to keep an eye on the foreclosure numbers, repo numbers, late credit card payment numbers, bankruptcies etc. The idea that the fascists are pushing the idea of a 50 year mortgage tells you how screwed up real estate valuations are compared to incomes. Good grief I remember when I first bought a house and most mortgages were 20 and 25 year and a healthy amount were 15 year. We have the same issues with vehicles. Pricing so out of whack to incomes that people are talking about pushing 10 year loans and more.

All of that is just digging the hole deeper. As most of us can attest there are many things that can happen to earning capacity, job availability, family health etc. and household income over a 10 year period let alone 50 years.

The hole is bad enough. Let's stop digging.

[mercuryblues]

1. Isn't that it.

Paychecks only go so far. Then ya dead ass broke until the next one. trump and his minions can't spin that.

That is what Dems need to run on...inflation directly caused by trumpconomics, supported by Vance. Not calling it affordability. Hammer the shit out of republicans for rubber stamping everything trump does. Tether him and Vance around their necks.

[FoxNewsSucks]

3. Inflation caused also by tRump tariffs

and caving to whatever greedy corporations & billionaires want.

[travelingthrulife]

14. Except don't let them take away words. There is nothing wrong with discussing affordability.

[B.See]

2. Trump & Co. Making America 'Great'

..... again.

[Diamond_Dog]

4. When Trump tells us the economy is great and prices are coming down

Yet we see exactly the opposite at the grocery store or any other store or on our insurance bills or utility bills

You’d think even the dumbest among us would know they’re being lied to. How long can he get away with blaming Biden??

Dems should shout from the rooftops on economic issues first and foremost.

[travelingthrulife]

15. Fox News needs to be shut down before MAGA will ever notice.

Every day they report about the sunshine and rainbows Trump is shitting out.

[cachukis]

5. You write well

[moniss]

8. Thank you for the nice compliment. nt

[Bev54]

6. I went shopping just before Christmas (in Canada) and got beef sirloin tip

roast (grade AAA) at sale prices that we had in the spring $6.99 per lb. It was excellent but just checking this weeks sales, back up again.

[dweller]

7. Shopped today at a popular grocery

Produce shelves going empty , on a Wednesday

😐




✌🏻

[moniss]

9. Yes indeed and I have noticed some quality issues

on more and more of the produce as well.

[Raftergirl]

16. Same. Tried to buy asparagus and the picking were slim and they looked terrible. Produce guy said they are

having trouble getting asparagus and what they are getting is very poor quality.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

10. Interesting.

I'm 77, live in a senior facility, and have literally not cooked in over a year. Which means I'm currently vague on grocery prices.

I am very fortunate.

[moniss]

11. Plain old chuck roast is

$12.99 a pound in many stores. Plain old hamburger is routinely $6.99 a pound and more. A couple of years ago chuck roast was always about $6.99 a pound by me and would go on sale at $4.99 a pound. Ground chuck was usually around that $4.99 a pound level and sometimes on sale for $3.49 a pound. Plain old hamburger was usually around $3.69 a pound and would go on sale for around $2.99 a pound in 5 pound packs.

[Norrrm]

12. Trump can take credit for all the cheap beef he got from Argentina rather than American farmers and ranchers.

$40 billion for Argentine ranchers and $12 billion for American farmers and ranchers.

Probably easier to skim from money going out of country.

[flashman13]

13. You mentioned late credit card payments. The amount of card debt has been rising since Q4/22. It currently sits at 1.23T

That's not really a meaningful number. It comes into focus when you look at the base numbers. The average card debt per household is $9,326. The average number per individual is $6,523. To me that number sounds crushing. The average credit card interest is 23% plus so say 23%. That individual is looking at $125 per month interest, probably a minimum payment of $150. If you had a spare $150 you wouldn't be $6K in debt. That's a tough hole to dig out of in a falling economy.

And a failing economy is almost guaranteed. The AI/Tech bubble is going to detonate soon. There are any number of ways that will crash the general economy. And when the morons in charge fail to do anything meaningful, things are just going to go down hill from there.

I think it's a safe guess that as the economy becomes tighter, more and more people will resort to stretching their income with plastic. That is a trap that can lead to a downward spiral. A better solution is belt tightening. That may be unpleasant, but it won't haunt you forever. BTW

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE IN DU-LANDIA!

[Raftergirl]

17. I bought a bottom round roast a few weeks ago, it was $7.99/lb at the butcher shop. Very reasonable, imo.

And I cooked it to perfection last night. 😃

[moniss]

18. Yes sometimes it's hit or miss on pricing and

I was buying pork steak at the local stand alone butcher shop last week and I got a chuck roast for $7.79 a pound while all the stores were higher. I put it in the slow cooker on low but it was one of the worst roasts I ever had. Horribly stringy and so tough you couldn't chew through even the smallest bite. I had to toss the roast and just have the vegetables.

Usually that butcher is OK but lately I'm having my doubts. I wanted smoked pork shanks and he said he could order them in. So he called when they came in and I went in great anticipation. Instead of shanks he ordered hocks sliced like a disc about an inch or so thick. They were even labeled from his supplier as hocks. I told the lady behind the counter that's not the same as a shank. She went in the back to tell him and she came back out and said "He said it's the same meat." Obviously I'm checking out different butcher shops. It ticked me off that he would do that. He had hocks when I was in the first time. All he did was order more hocks. My money will spend elsewhere. Imagine if you told the butcher you wanted a rolled pork roast and he tried to hand you a shoulder roast and then saying "it's the same meat." It's kind of like an argument I had some time ago about chicken soup. I like to use necks and the person I was speaking to said they just use wings and breast meat. They said there was no difference because "it's all chicken". My way is more effort to get the bones after cooking but the taste is better to me using the darker meat. I guess some people load up on the spices and other flavors so they can't tell a difference. I like to taste the meat rather than a ton of spices.

[Raftergirl]

19. My local butcher shop is excellent. I usually go once a month and stock up. I have a freezer chest so plenty of

space to store it.

I don’t normally look at the price I pay (fortunately I don’t need to do that.) I had to look in my kitchen basket before posting the roast’s price per pound. But, the prices I pay do not seem unreasonable to me and much better quality, imo, than anything I get at regular supermarket. I do skip the Wagyu beef.

I also buy all my seafood at the fishmonger. Much more expensive than regular market, but worth it, imo.

I make my chicken soup from the leftovers of store bought rotisserie chicken. We usually only eat half so lots of meat on the chicken and the carcass. I add carrots, onions, celery and parsnips. I have soup bags that I put the carcass in, which makes it super easy to pick all the meat off the bones and the rest of the carcass. The vegetables I put in the water and keep them all and add more fresh vegetables to finish making my soup.

I just made turkey soup and needed two bags for the carcass.

[moniss]

20. Sounds wonderful and sometimes I wish I had

my great aunts old wood cook stove. She would keep a pot of soup on the back forever at low temperature and always just add to it. Way before the days of instant heat from the microwave. That way when her husband or sons came in at odd times from working on the farm she would make them sit down and eat a bowl of soup with some slices of fresh baked bread before going back out to work.

She baked fresh bread and rolls almost every day along with a coffee cake or muffins here and there. Pies when fruit was in season. Those women doing all of that on those cook stoves were real artists.