One of the themes of this blog is the way capitalism is making nearly everything cheaper (where it isn’t now free). Next example: Halloween candy.
From the New York Times’ Upshot blog:
It turned out that Waldbaum’s still carries more than a third of the brands listed in the 1964 ad, at very favorable prices. Milky Way, Snickers and 3 Musketeers bars were 59 cents a pound back then, or $4.53 in today’s money; this week, they were on sale for $2.99 for an 11.2-ounce bag, or $4.27 a pound. Hershey’s Kisses, 69 cents ($5.30) for a one-pound bag in 1964, were $1.69 for 11 ounces, or $2.46 a pound.
The biggest price decrease might be for Brach’s candy corn, listed in 1964 at 69 cents for a “20-count package.” This week, a bag containing about 150 pieces sold for $1.69, which works out to 22 cents for 20 pieces. (Of course, it’s possible that a “20-count package” meant something other than that the package contained 20 pieces of candy corn.)
On the other hand, Oh Henry! bars have gotten slightly more expensive. In 1964, miniature bars sold for 39 cents ($2.99) for nine ounces; this week, they were bundled with Baby Ruth and other Nestlé candies for $6.99 per 20-ounce bag, or $3.15 for nine ounces. (Baby Ruth was also sold in 1964, but was packaged in a way that makes price comparisons difficult.)
Notice that wasn’t cheaper is the niche item, the Oh Henry.
Here’s a link to an old piece outlining the declining price of cars. And a description of what isn’t getting cheaper and why.
Chris Ladd is a Texan living in the Chicago area. He has been involved in grassroots Republican politics for most of his life. He was a Republican precinct committeeman in suburban Chicago until he resigned from the party and his position after the 2016 Republican Convention. He can be reached at gopliferchicago at gmail dot com.
GOPLifer 
A little something for kabuzz:
http://www.psmag.com/navigation/politics-and-law/racial-resentment-drives-tea-party-membership-93419/
Oh, and the scientific study, rather than random bloviating by uninformed opinionators, which the article is summarizing:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0049089X14001793
Funny, bird, we have already been over this in the new entry.
Do you think black people are as intelligent and capable as anybody else? If you answer yes, you are a racist. But if you say black people are inferior, you are not a racist. Very strange world liberals live in.
Chris, my apologies in advance and no intent to hijack your blog, but if I can take just a minute to ask for help from those so inclined. My niece’s 14-year-old daughter is battling leukemia and the family is sponsoring a t-shirt sale to raise money to help with the enormous medical expenses involved. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
http://www.booster.com/prayforpaige3
Is done. A bit more than buying ebooks to support our authors, but … well, good luck and may God bless.
The last paragraph of the *Times* story warmed the cockles of my grammarian’s heart:
“That Waldbaum’s ad showed that one other thing hasn’t changed in 50 years. Its headline read, ‘Happy Halloween’s Start at Waldbaum’s,’ showing that apostrophe abuse isn’t a function of declining educational standards or the Internet era.”
On a different note, I don’t see any mention of *quality* differences alongside the commentary on *price* differences. Just as Coke is now cheaper, but tastes different with corn syrup as opposed to cane sugar, I suspect one could find many differences in the materials used to make candies then vs. now, from grades of chocolate to types of sugar to filler ingredients and so on. The price may be cheaper, but you also may not be paying for as much as you once did.
Regarding apostrophe abuse, how is the headline supposed to read? I must be misunderstanding something.
I suppose it could be a headline without a verb, with “start” as a noun.
But it’d be stylistically better to say “Happy Halloween Starts at Waldbaum’s”.
Mainly, I just appreciated the attention paid to apostrophes. Admittedly, the chosen example isn’t necessarily an actual error, nor as grotesque as many more common lapses.
What I can’t stand is hypercorrection. Using “for Owl and I” when it should be in the objective case — “for Owl and me,” for example.
The word “me” has gotten a bad rap, and sometimes it’s actually the correct word to use.
Or misuse of the word “literally,” when it’s actually figurative, and the speaker just wants to add emphasis.
I’ve even heard journalists say “had went” instead of “had gone.” Absolutely shameful.
My favorite apostrophe mishap feels wrong in two languages. A Spring Branch bar is named “Los Chino’s.”
Happy Halloween. I remember Trick or Treating in Elkhart in the 70’s. a huge bag of candy for the Grim Reaper, and Starsky and Hutch old school.
Wouldn’t want to get caught doing the Trick part these days. Soaping windows, TPing trees, knocking over garbage cans in the alley. What did I leave out? Any of the above would get you a permanent mark on your record in 2014.
Boys can’t be boys anymore, can they? That’s where I get lost with the left. The creeping criminalization of the white male.
So you think vandalism is okay, as long as the perpetrators are young and the actions are, in your distinguished view, minor?
And what do you think would happen to a Black kid lurking around a home’s windows or “alley” at night? Even on Halloween?
I still remember the Japanese exchanges student in full white disco suit outfit being shot to death on Halloween in Louisiana a few years back for knocking on the wrong door. And the shooter was exonerated for being “justified”.
Kind of surprised that would come from you Big W.
I’m totally down with vandalism, as long as its done in a tasteful manner. Poorly executed acts of vandalism should result in life ruination, as you prescribe, but well executed, tasteful, vandalism is completely acceptable.
Anyone who vandalizes my house, no matter how tastefully, is looking for trouble. “Just kidding” just won’t cut it.
Simply knocking on my door won’t produce the same reaction, of course. Just the cold shoulder treatment.
geoff1968 says:
October 31, 2014 at 11:59 am
“nstead of making the guy who painted “I love Brenda” on the 8th St bridge clean it up you’d rather jail him, and turn him into a criminal.”
Now that prisons are profit driven industries, what did you expect. For profit prisons and increased incarceration have a direct correlation.
Soap washes off. Garbage can be picked up. I’m not sure how you’d go about removing the toilet paper from the tree, but the paper will eventually dissolve and leave no permanent damage.
You seem to want to equate innocuous youthful mischief with burning a cross on someone’s lawn, or slashing the tires on their car.
Instead of making the guy who painted “I love Brenda” on the 8th St bridge clean it up you’d rather jail him, and turn him into a criminal.
“Innocuous” means “without harm”. Given that much of the discussion of this blog entry involves the increased cost/worth of time, how is requiring someone to spend time picking up garbage “innocuous”?
Perhaps the home owner is elderly and infirm, and picking up garbage is more of a chore than those youthful sprats, or you, seem to consider it.
No, I don’t want to jail vandals. But community service, of the sort you mentioned, is a fine option. I’m disappointed that you described the reasonable, middle option, and then sloppily imagined me from one far end of the spectrum (no punishment for “mischief”) into the other (jail time).
Why in the world should we teach young people that wasting someone’s time is okay?
I’m speaking from experience. These are things that I saw when I was a boy in Elkhart. The community did not seem to be too concerned about Halloween pranks. I’m not advocating hooliganism, just casually noting its commonness.
I got the worst stomach ache from that bag of candy.
But, BigWilly, how were we supposed to interpret this statement:
“Boys can’t be boys anymore, can they? That’s where I get lost with the left. The creeping criminalization of the white male.”
That sounds an awful lot like a plea for leniency toward hooliganism.
It’s vandalism, trespassing, defacing of public property, bullying, intimidation. No excuses. Get the heck off my lawn.
Sorry — it’s defacing of PRIVATE property.
kabuzz61 says:
October 31, 2014 at 9:38 am
I have to say, anyone that lives in a state the supports and votes for Franken can’t be taken seriously. He is the Palin of Minnisota.
That is funny, Louie Gohmert , is that you under that pink cat hood.
I am still trying to figure out what the low price of Halloween candy has to do with anything. Does it have to do with the increased value of human capital, and how parents find it more convenient to “shower” their kids with candy corn than to spend valuable time with them?
Or to provide them with cheap gadgets that will keep them entranced and out of the way for hours on end, versus spending time with them?
Those both sound like good corollaries to me, Tutt. Baumol’s Cost Disease means that, for all our gains in efficiency and mechanization, there are certain creative or interpersonal tasks which simply can’t be speeded up… and so they become more expensive. As you say, “human capital” (or, indeed, “social capital” in general) becomes costlier and thus rarer.
Televisions, video games, and the Internet have got to be among the worst babysitters possible… yet far too many parents use them that way.
I’m not sure Tutt. When I was a younger lad, after school and homework me and my friends would play outside and on the weekends just about all day. The only thing I think technology does is remove the kids from the truely social element. They think they are social, but it isn’t. Face to face play and team work does alot to boost self esteem and confidence. Anonymity gives falst courage and hope.
Technology may be *part* of the problem there, but just as significant is our growing addiction to fear and control. How many parents would *let* their children play outside, all around the neighborhood and out of sight, in the way you and I probably did? Heck, remember the furor a few years ago over the New York mom who let her elementary-school child take the subway to school by himself? Plenty of folks wanted to pillory her for being an incompetent parent, rather than someone developing confidence and self-reliance in her child.
David W. Orr’s books about “nature deficit disorder” in today’s children might be an appropriate reference here.
I grew up during the ’70s, but I was raised more like today’s kids. My mom was overprotective of me, I was an only child, a loner, so I spent a lot of time reading books, listening to music, and watching TV alone.
I think these habits helped me intellectually, if not socially. I was always a good student.
What is your opinion of reading? It’s a solitary activity, but very enriching.
Correction: I spent MOST of my time engaged in those solitary activities.
Tutt — I, too, grew up in the 1970s. Part of it was in a suburb of San Diego; a housing development on a cul-de-sac partly filled with houses, but adjacent to large tracts (now filled, I see from Google Maps) of open land covered with iceplant and clumps of shrubbery rising and falling in gentle relief. Neighbor children and I played all through those areas, making “secret” rooms inside bushes, lolling in the iceplant and conversing, and so forth. That was valuable for social interaction, problem-solving, exercise, exposure to nature, and all sorts of things.
That said, sure, I also spent a lot of time indoors, as a voracious reader, and playing with my younger brother, building structures out of wooden blocks and making up plots for him to explore with his *Star Wars* action figures. And I remember getting up on Saturday mornings early enough to see the test pattern (another historical relic) before the cartoons came on (though, apparently, the last network to run a Saturday-morning cartoon block also ceased that scheduling recently. Ah, the disappearing evidence of youth).
Solitary and social, indoor and outdoor, are both important. As always, the best place is in the middle.
Oh, I meant to say that another part of my childhood (in a Navy family) was spent in the Washington, DC, suburb of Arlington. Down the street was an extensive natural preserve of forest around a “run” or creek. I’d walk there all the time by myself.
Heck, in San Diego I remember walking what must have been a mile or more every couple of weeks to get down to the shopping center which sold *Dungeons & Dragons* paraphernalia. Nowadays I’m pretty sure most children would either have to or want to wait to be driven by a parent, but I enjoyed the exercise and the independence.
Many of these games are now played online, with loud, you really don’t want to hear your twelve year old say it, sound effects coming from the bedroom. There are common goals and shouted assignments, team play is occuring.
The genie is out of the bottle, the genie is always out of the bottle and then the old people cluck and cite poorly randomized studies about all the bad things which are going to be forgotten once the kids grow up.
The latest Republican “moderation” from being abject ignorant climate change deniers?
“I’m an [acknowledged] idiot.”
That’s considered an improvement?
Sheer genius.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/31/us/why-republicans-keep-telling-everyone-theyre-not-scientists.html?mabReward=RI%3A5&action=click&contentCollection=Middle%20East®ion=Footer&module=Recommendation&src=recg&pgtype=article
They are not scientists until the science agrees with their position, then they believe the science.
Works both ways, Texan. Liberals are quick to reject science that doesn’t fit their agenda.
Such as?
Examples please
Creationism is a science to Cappy.
Please demonstrate where anyone especially on this site said there is no climate change. Your narrow, left wing nut brain won’t be able to. So the thesis of this comment is incorrect.
Such as AGW.
Dumb ass cat, you as have others do not belive in the science that man has increased the rate at which climate change occurs.
Of course there’s natural climate change. No-one would disagree with that — not even a creationist, I suppose, since there’s that Great Flood and all.
So anyone supposing the question is about purely *natural* climate change is playing the deliberate idiot.
Oh, it’s kabuzz? Well, point made.
When you state ‘we’ don’t believe in climate change (you idiot) it is false. The scientists that state there is climate change is not as huge a margin when it comes to causes. (you idiot)
I have to say, anyone that lives in a state the supports and votes for Franken can’t be taken seriously. He is the Palin of Minnisota.
“The scientists that state there is climate change is [sic] not as huge a margin when it comes to causes.”
What in hell does that mean? Slow down and think before typing, and perhaps you’ll be able to offer something intelligible and intelligent rather than just wing-nut word-salad.
Oh, and it’s Minnesota. One would hope that a citizen of the United States would be able to manage the names of all 50 of its major political subdivisions. But apparently that’s too much for wingnut Republicans who like to crow that their high-school diploma is worth at least two years of a college degree.
kabuzz61 says:
October 31, 2014 at 9:38 am
When you state ‘we’ don’t believe in climate change (you idiot) it is false. The scientists that state there is climate change is not as huge a margin when it comes to causes. (you idiot)
Learn how to read you rabid cat.
texan5142 says:
October 31, 2014 at 9:06 am
Dumb ass cat, you as have others do not belive in the science that man has increased the rate at which climate change occurs.
“do not belive in the science that man has increased the rate at which climate change occurs.”
Now who is the idiot.
They are not scientist so obviously they should listen to the 97% of Climate scientists that are providing proof of the effects of climate change. But apparently they are deaf and blind as well.
Splitting meaningless cat hairs again buzzy? So you can(fail to) salvage some measure of being “right” from your wingnut lies?
We are talking man made impact on climate change buzzy. We all know that except for clueless literal cranky old White ignorant kitties.
Hey Cap provide an example of an elected official from the democratic side using “I am not a scientists” line.
Why bother with that, Texan? They don’t read the bills they vote for, admitting that have no idea what they are voting for or against. Got to pass that bill to find out what is in it.
So in others words Cap, it is only the elected republicans who use the “I am not a scientist” line to dismiss the science of things they do not agree with.
CaptSternn says:
October 31, 2014 at 9:29 am
Why bother with that, Texan?
Why bother? Because you said,
CaptSternn says:
October 31, 2014 at 8:19 am
Works both ways, Texan. Liberals are quick to reject science that doesn’t fit their agenda.
Now back it up.
And, as you’ve had pointed out many times, comic-boy, that’s a misrepresentation of what Pelosi said and why she said it.
But lying with out-of-context quotes are the only ways that conservative pinheads can maintain their self-delusive worldviews.
That said, there *is* a problem, on both sides of the political aisle, with bills that are too long and complex for a single human being to comprehend in the limited and thus valuable time available. Whether that’s a limitation of our political system, a reflection of the growing importance of support staff, or an inevitable feature of an ever-complexifying society and economy, I leave to our usual eager disputants.
There is no science that shows any proof of AGW. Science shows climate change is natural, liberals reject science that doesn’t support their agenda.
Thank you Cappy for the more direct and non subtle “I am an idiot” response.
There’s plenty of such science, comic-boy. You’re just too much the miserable sad-sack to read or understand it. Lord knows people have tried; but you are determined to remain ineducable.
Climate change can result from both natural AND human impetus, though the two manifest on vastly different time-scales (viz. the attempted explanations to Steve Stockman’s ham-handed complaints about “global wobbling” in a recent hearing of, God help us, the House Science and Technology Committee).
Principled ignorance appears to be a Republican value.
No, there isn’t, bird. If there was solid proof you would just trot it right out and everybody else would be silenced. But you can’t because it isn’t there.
Don’t forget Captain, according to AlGore Florida should be under water by now. OOPS! I guess the ‘inventor of the internet” and the left wing nuts poster boy for climate change was…wrong.
The liberals always make up a fact and try and try to make science it it.
I’ve done so, comic-boy. So have others. Many times. It doesn’t work — and not because of us, or because of the evidence, but because of YOU.
As I’ve said, your ignorance is not my problem when it’s so obviously self-inflicted and determined. Your feeble ego and delusive worldview DEPEND on not believing anything I might present. So why should I waste my time with you?
CaptSternn says:
October 31, 2014 at 9:37 am
No, there isn’t, bird. If there was solid proof you would just trot it right out and everybody else would be silenced. But you can’t because it isn’t there.
Man that is rich, now trot out your solid proof,of this statement Cap.
CaptSternn says:
October 31, 2014 at 8:19 am
Works both ways, Texan. Liberals are quick to reject science that doesn’t fit their agenda.
kabuzz61 says:
October 31, 2014 at 9:41 am
The liberals always make up a fact and try and try to make science it it.
Example please.
kabuzz61 says:
October 31, 2014 at 9:41 am
Don’t forget Captain, according to AlGore Florida should be under water by now. OOPS! I guess the ‘inventor of the internet” and the left wing nuts poster boy for climate change was…wrong.
Um, not he was not wrong, just off by a few years.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/south-florida-rising-sea-levels/
Sigh. Kabuzz, is Al Gore a degreed climate scientist working in the field? What’s that you say? No? Well, gosh, then, we should expect him to be wrong at least some of the time.
For example, Rand Paul keeps claiming that Ebola transmits easily. That flies in the face of everything said by professional epidemiologists. (And, though Rand Paul may be a doctor, he’s an optometrist, so there’s little claim for cross-field expertise.) So when Rand Paul speaks inaccurately, is that a way to blame all doctors as wrong or incompetent? Well, no.
Face it, kitling: you’re appealing to Al Gore only because he’s an easy target and you don’t have any *real* science or facts on your side.
Owl of Bellaire says:
October 31, 2014 at 10:00 am
For example, Rand Paul keeps claiming that Ebola transmits easily. That flies in the face of everything said by professional epidemiologists. (And, though Rand Paul may be a doctor, he’s an optometrist, so there’s little claim for cross-field expertise.) So when Rand Paul speaks inaccurately, is that a way to blame all doctors as wrong or incompetent? Well, no.
I might add also that Rand Paul had to invent his own certification board to become certified.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2013/11/08/rand-paul-has-another-problem/
And Al Gore never claimed to have invented the internet and has been debunked before. On this blog. Not that facts and accuracy matter to willfully ignorant wingnuts like buzzy.
Buzzy is basically acknowledging lies is all he has to justify his wingnuttness. But he has a high school diploma worth a current 2 year degree.
Try that at an employment interview whydoncha buzzy?
Correction: “Lies ARE all he has.”
CappyBuzzy – If you are provided proof would you change your mind? No, because evidence has never been a factor for your beliefs. Every major scientific organization endorses the claim that humans contribute to climate change.
From the Scientific American
“How can we be sure that humans are responsible for these increases? Some greenhouse gases (most of the halocarbons, for example) have no natural source. For other gases, two important observations demonstrate human influence. First, the geographic differences in concentrations reveal that sources occur predominantly over land in the more heavily populated Northern Hemisphere. Second, analysis of isotopes, which can distinguish among sources of emissions, demonstrates that the majority of the increase in carbon dioxide comes from combustion of fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas). Methane and nitrous oxide increases derive from agricultural practices and the burning of fossil fuels.”
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/science-behind-climate-change/
Science does not play a role in your beliefs because it would challenge and contradict your preconceived beliefs. I will re-quote you: Right wingers do not use logic and facts to develop their beliefs, they rely on emotion and are easily manipulated by hucksters to drive their agenda.
Buzzy has no excuse for not understanding the role of humans in climate change. I remember he was on Justin Kugler’s Houston Chronicle blog making up the same lies he is now. Justin provided ample support, but it is impossible to teach someone incapable of learning.
http://blog.chron.com/worldwithnoboundaries/2011/08/the-false-debate-over-climate-change/
The literal right wing climate change argument.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kylesmith/2014/05/21/global-warming-alarmists-are-getting-desperate/
I am laughing as I post this as I know you left wing nuts will not be able to do the math correctly. But we already know that. As they say “five out of four democrats are bad at math.”
So, let me get this straight, kitling.
You’d rather trust an opinion piece written by a film critic, than the vast majority of scientific literature written by professionals in the field?
You’re a hopeless crank.
As is fast food. So the crap is getting cheaper but healthful food isn’t.
Go figure as to why we have an obesity problem in this country.
I disagree. Fruit is relatively inexpensive — 3 small gala apples for $1 at Kroger, for example, or 5 small ones for $2.
15 small limes for $1 at Fiesta. 5 limes for a pitcher of fresh-squeezesd lemonade.
Compare this to a bag of chocolates for $3, or a 2-liter bottle of soda for $1.50.
$1 for a dozen medium Kroger brand eggs, each of which can be eaten hard boiled as a snack.
Indeed, Tutt. It is much cheaper to buy groceries, fresh fruit, fresh vegetables and fresh meat, and prepare healthier meals than it is to eat fast food and junk food all the time. Also a good way to control portion size and calories.
Though I do tend to splurge of those Mexican Cokes and the Dr. Peppers made with real sugar, the old Dublin Dr. Pepper recipie that Dr. Pepper took away and now sells in Houston and other areas (I have Tutt to thank for finding those and introducing them to me).
I give out raw eggs to trick or treaters. They love it. 😉
Cappy – How have you lived in Texas your whole life and not know about Mexican Cole or the whole line of Joya drinks?
Mexican Coke
Turtles, I guess I saw them but didn’t know about them. I do now and they are great.
Tutt – tomorrow is Halloween. I say we all egg a house.
Sure, and we can smash windows with gala apples and baby limes. I knew fruit was good for something.
Funny Tutt, funny
Hi y’all. I decided to be Miss New Mexico for Halloween. I needed a body double for this action shot with Chris Christie and Miss New Mexico did the job nicely!
I managed to get photo ops with both Governor Christie and Governor Martinez, but I am undecided whether to post the pictures. Since there was a big crowd, the photos were taken from literally two feet away – not the most flattering distance for a good photo. 😦
“…the photos were taken from literally two feet away – not the most flattering distance for a good photo.”
…unless, perhaps, you are Miss New Mexico, for certain readers of the blog, I’m sure.
Depending on focus and field of view, of course.
objv, what part of Jersey are you living in?
OV, according to Dill, you are quite stunning, so maybe you SHOULD be Miss New Mexico.
I decided to run my closeup with Governor Martinez through a photo filter. This IS actually me with Susana Martinez. At my age, you’ll have to cut me some slack – although I’ll have to admit that Miss New Mexico looks great from any angle and at any distance. Ah, to be young again!
Susana Martinez is beautiful in real life. Surprisingly, Chris Christie is more attractive in person than he is on camera. It was really nice that they swung by to visit Farmington.
I was also happy that the people that showed up represented the demographics of our region (not just old, white people). There were lots of Native Americans and Hispanics. I especially enjoyed see some of the children meeting Governor Martinez. Although some of the older ones must have been playing hooky for the day, I doubt they’ll ever forget meeting their governor.
” Surprisingly, Chris Christie is more attractive in person than he is on camera.”
He is ugly on the inside, and that is what counts.
Kabuzz, I live in New Mexico although my husband had to work in New Jersey on a “temporary” two year assignment awhile back. He lived in Union, NJ and I spent some time with him there.
Christie was spending the day showing support for candidates up for reelection. Farmington was just one of many stops.
Tutt, I guess you haven’t seen all the dollar menus at Burger King, McDonald’s Wendy’s, etc? And the free refills of soda?
I wouldn’t mind jacking up the price of fast food to provide the workers a living wage or medical benefits. Like in Denmark.
I had forgotten about that but Cap reminded me.
So, you would raise the prices to help the workers, but what about the customers?
Still, the fact that you can get a fast food meal really cheap doesn’t change the fact that you can get a cheaper and healthier meal if you buy the ingredients from the grocery store and prepare it yourself.
Well Tutt, my point being, fast food is unhealthy so why make it cheaper than unhealthful food? Raise the prices to support the workers and if consumers can’t afford it, junk food is not a basic necessity.
And it wouldn’t hurt to make junk food more expensive than healthy food.
And I disagree that “healthier meals are cheaper if you prepare it yourself”.
Maybe if you buy and cook for 30 people. You said yourself “3 apples are a dollar”. So is a double cheeseburger at McDonald’s or a milkshake at Wendy’s, or 2 tacos at Jack’s.
It’s the other way around. For something that is NOT a basic necessity companies should be free to place any price they want. It’s basic necessities that it makes sense to regulate price-wise.
One can get a double cheeseburger for a dollar, or one can make a ham sandwich with cheese for about 15 cents. A person can get two tacos for a dollar, or get twice or three times that if they make the tacos on their own. Could probably make that double cheeseburger for half the price by making it at home.
Fast food will always naturally be more expensive that buying the ingredients and making the food at home because we have to pay for the labor and the cost of the building, utilities and shipping of goods on top of what those things cost at the grocery store. Double the price at the minimum. Time and effort equals money.
As long as basic necessities are kept low in price or even free, it shouldn’t matter what NON necessities cost by comparison. Psychological pricing games are inappropriate and intrusive.
Behavioral economics à la Cass Sunstein.
Ah Cappy logic/intelligence strikes again. Please pray tell how you can make the ingredients for EXACTLY 2 tacos for under a dollar or a EXACTLY one ham sandwich for 15 cents. Or conversely, the ingredients for how many tacos or ham sandwiches you want for a dollar each.
Good luck trying to score one or 2 slices of ham anywhere Cappy.
Why woul I want to buy a single slice of ham when I can buy a package with a lot of slices and make many sandwiches for a few pennies each?
Because you ending spending way more than a dollar TrollCappy.
Stay on topic.
Cap, I’ll give you a dollar if you grill me a swordfish steak. 🙂
Correction. “You end up spending…”
Bubba, please stop. Cap is not being a troll, at least not on this subthread. He and I were discussing this very topic last night, about how it’s cheaper to fix food ourselves, and how we ourselves take the lazy route and buy it already prepared at fast food places. And no, that doesn’t make us hypocrites. We know what’s good for us, we don’t always do it, and we accept that it’s our own damn fault.
Then both of you are (willfully) missing the point of being poor. Which sounds like trolling to me. It would be great to eat and buy healthy. What if all you have is one or two dollars AND no time to prepare healthy food?
Not all poor people are slackers just sitting around “being poor”.
They work, they do chores, they have responsibilities.
They work they asses off and still can’t get by because we want McDonald’s to make more profit on the backs of the working poor.
Did you even read the article where a significant number of fast food workers are on public assistance? Including a manager?
WE are subsidizing the poor. To make the 1%’ers even more outrageous money.
Get a clue.
Bubba, I would spend more than a dollar up front, but I would have many meals for much less than a dollar each. That is called planning ahead. So by planning ahead and buying the ingredients I can eat healthier and cheaper than buying fast food. That’s not rocket science.
So a person has two dollars and no time to prepare a meal. They buy one meal, then no more meals for a week or two weeks? That is not planning, much less being wise and responsible.
And comparing apples to hamburgers, people feel like they can get by on a double cheesburger for most of a day. Only an anorexic or a highly compensated “super” model can get by on 3 apples for a meal.
Read again (with comprehension):
“What if all you have is one or two dollars AND no time to prepare healthy food?”.
Yes Cappy is not being a willful troll. Not at all.
Of course, this sub-thread ties right around to Tutt’s latest comment about “human capital” and time as increasingly scarcer and more valuable commodities.
If you’re working two or three jobs and feeling dead on your feet, it may *seem* like a far “better” deal to purchase the fast food, which is available on demand and without effort, rather than having to engage in the planning, materials storage, preparation, and transportation to work/school of a home-made meal.
And then what, Bubba? Starve for the next few days? Not much planning for the future for you. Never thinking ahead, just go for that instant gratification and ignore the consequence and then blame somebody else when those consequnces come around.
No, Bubba, trolling is throwing out bombs just for the thrill of seeing the effects caused. What we are doing here is having a discussion in which we don’t all necessarily agree.
And because some people are too stubbornly judgmental and self important for nuanced empathy, let me expand further.
What if you are too tired at the end of 12 – 16 hour work day earning barely enough to get by? You get a double cheeseburger for a dollar.
That’s why we need programs to help the poor and not tax breaks for the 1%’ers to widen the economic gap.
Programs to assist them short term and long term to lift them out of poverty. Day care assistance, free classes on financial management, nutrition, etc.
And it is quite a a measure of hubris to say “you are an idiot for being poor; I would do this, this, and this. See how easy that was?”
Walk a mile. Appreciate your gifts and breaks you have had along the way and understand no one makes it alone and not everyone gets those same breaks. Or the confidence or experience to take advantage of opportunities. Appreciate the differences. Not everyone is as “smart” or “driven” as you. It doesn’t mean they deserve to starve or live in misery on the margins. Or looked down upon or scolded for being “stupid and poor”.
Thank you Owl. You hit my same point first.
Also if, say, my electricity kept getting cut off, or my refrigerator was dodgy or broken, I might not consider buying and storing perishable food to be an efficient use of funds.
I have walked many of those mes on several occasions, Bubba. That’s why I know how to stretch a dollar instead of starving.
Bird, maybe it would be smarter and wiser to keep the utilitie on rarher than blowing money eating out.
comic-boy, you are the *least* appropriate person to chide others about what is “smarter or wiser”.
But, obviously, you’re convinced that you are a paragon of virtue and those who can’t do as well as you are morally and intellectually inferior, suitable to be culled by the tenets of Social Darwinism.
Dunning and Kruger would have loved to work with you.
Sez the “do as I say not as I do” inveterate hypocrite who decided not to pay his required taxes when he was “poor”. And then whined about the penalties.
Okaaaaaay.
Maybe you should have bought more ham sandwiches Cappy.
You sure walked that mile alright Cappy.
Well yes, Bubba, I should have planned for those taxes better. But never whined about the penalties, nust pointed out what probably will happen to more people because of the PPACA.
A turdball by any other name.
Smells like a whine Cappy.
And a bonus hypocritical wingnut deflection form personal responsibility to boot.
You’re hitting all cylinders in your hypocrisy machine this morning Cappy.