The downsizing of the Middle Class has become so huge that even mainstream American corporations like Walmart, Campbell Soup and Hershey are hurting from the loss of their mainstream demographic.
Most Americans are so strapped for cash at this point, that they can little afford to splurge on anything but the basics. As a result, stores are shifting their appeal to wealthier, upper class niches where they hope to turn a profit.
Welcome to the “changing income landscape” in the United States and beyond… according to those in the know, it is a “seismic shift” of epic proportions.
By all accounts, this isn’t going away anytime soon.
As Boing Boing puts it bluntly:
From Walmart to Hershey to Campbell’s Soup, America’s biggest retailers and manufacturers are warning their shareholders that flat growth is a fact of life because of “consumer bifurcation,” which is plutocrat-speak for “everyone is broke except the one percent.” The companies’ plan for rescuing themselves is to turn themselves into luxury brands targeted at the wealthy.
The Business Insider goes into more detail:
The disappearing middle class is challenging many major American brands.
Company executives blamed the disappointing results in part on the changing income landscape in the US.
“We think that consumer bifurcation has been an important driver,” Hershey CEO John Bilbrey said on an earnings call, referring to the growing gap between upper-income and lower-income consumers.
[…]
“While overall consumer confidence is trending up, lower income consumers continue to be fragile as income and wage growth has been minimal,” he said. “Higher income and more confident consumers are driving premium growth, while cost-conscious consumers are driving the value segment.”
[…]
Campbell Soup CEO Denise Morrison also recently identified “a shrinking middle class in developed markets” as one of four “seismic” shifts that are impacting her company.
Even Walmart, which is known for its cheap prices, is tailoring its business strategy to the expectation that growth will come from upper-income households in the years ahead.
How exactly Walmart plans to shift from appealing to the masses with cheap plastic household goods to exclusive luxury items for the well-off isn’t clear, but the facts remain – the income divide is deepening, and the so-called “recovery” is falling into a deep depression.
Middle class and lower income families have seen absolutely no wealth growth since 2009, and jobs have become increasingly difficult. As the Business Insider points out, the trend has been ongoing since the 1970s, when many jobs began moving offshore.
The share of households in the middle tier of income earners has fallen to 43% from 55% since the 1970s, according to The New York Times.
Meanwhile, the wealth gap continues to grow. It isn’t about envying the rich, but about making ends meet for the rest of us. Pew Research shows the progression of disparity, which has now reached an alarming high point:
That’s just the gap between those who truly rank in the middle class versus the rich. The gap between the poor and working classes and the wealthiest is ten times greater:
A new Pew Research Center analysis of wealth finds the gap between America’s upper-income and middle-income families has reached its highest level on record. In 2013, the median wealth of the nation’s upper-income families ($639,400) was nearly seven times the median wealth of middle-income families ($96,500), the widest wealth gap seen in 30 years when the Federal Reserve began collecting these data.
In addition, America’s upper-income families have a median net worth that is nearly 70 times that of the country’s lower-income families, also the widest wealth gap between these families in 30 years.
And just think, things can get worse. Much worse.
Sadly, there is every indication that this is just the beginning of an economic fallout that will drive tens of millions more into poverty and struggle.
If these major companies, many of whom already specialize in discount goods, are having trouble because the average Americans who shop in their stores are too poor to buy much of anything, then there is obviously a problem that is in serious danger of snowballing.
Many of the elite know this, and are taking cover from the storm.
Read more:
THIS CHART Tells a Story… America’s Middle Class Thrived After WWII and Died Under Obama
“By Any Standard, Wealth Inequality At Historic Levels” Since Recovery From 2008 Economic Crisis
Hank Paulson Has A Good Laugh Over Wealth Inequality: “We Made It Wider”
Wealth Gap is Destroying Families: “Race Matters Far Less and Class Matters Far More”
…and then you have the “smart shoppers”, like us.
We only buy the things we really need to buy, for the most part.
We allow ourselves two items that we call comfort or luxury foods, that we could actually live without.
The wife usually chooses ice cream (vanilla) as one and chocolate syrup to mix with her coffee, as the other.
I usually pick, yogurt and some sort of sweet snack like chocolate covered almonds or my favorite chocolate candy bar.
We don’t splurge on the things we can’t use, and we usually buy in bulk, the things we use a lot of.
There are many folks out there like us that make their ever shrinking dollar go farther. The Mc E Ds and walmarkets of the world, don’t like people like us.
And then there are shoppers like me (late 50’s)who bargin shop. Fortunately in Florida we have Publix supermarket and every week they have numerous discounts on items and a many B1G1 free deals. That’s how I save when shopping.
On to the main topic, this is all leading to a head and when the masses figure it out the US will be faced with nationwide civil unrest. People can still eat but when they start to skip meals because they can’t pay rent or basic utilities and being forced into Obamacare that’s when it’ll get real ugly.
And this is not just a US problem. This is worldwide and we’re all interconnected. So when one economy goes under expect to happen everywhere. It’s the reason why an insignificant country like Greece was not allowed to default. Now imagine the economies of any of the following collapsing: US, China, France, Italy, Spain, England, Russia.
It would send shockwaves around the world and that’s because of globalization.
From the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, a tribute to the brave: http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.683656
For the “plan” to be fully implemented, the middle class must be destroyed.
Obama’s War on the Middle Class
“…One of the hallmarks of all socialist countries is the is the absence of an independent middle class.
From the Bolshevik experiment in Russia to socialist Venezuela today, it is necessary for communist leaders to eliminate that class of citizens who are not dependent on government for their welfare.
Political theorists from Aristotle to Locke understood that a truly INDEPENDENT AND PROSPEROUS MIDDLE CLASS WAS ESSENTIAL TO THE COLLECTIVE WELL-BEING OF ANY SOCIETY.
The middle class has always, in every society, been characterized by qualities of social restraint and economic realism — a shrewd and skeptical conservatism that serves to restrain the grandiose plans of utopian revolutionaries and embittered reactionaries alike.”
“It is an ominous sign that the political left, with the loyal support of more than a third of our population, is intent on its destruction.”
http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/03/obamas_war_on_the_middle_class.html
KY Mom
Two dramatic changes were pushed by the Republicans that hit a stone wall and were picked up and became law via Democrats in general and Bill Clinton in specific. The First was Free Trade which eviscerated US wealth creating manufacturing and the second was the abandonment of Financial Regulations with the demise of Glass-Steagall.
The welfare socialist state is just the fall out of the above. Actually I theorize that the millions on assistance are keeping the economy going as well as it is. Remove their purchasing power and unemployment would probably double. Is it unsustainable? Absolutely.
The “Bush did it” from the left and the “Obama is to blame” from the right is nothing but deception.
Under the Obama administration and the controlled alphabet agencies such as the EPA, we have seen the war on the middle class GREATLY ESCALATE…as if on steroids.
The “hope and change” wasn’t what many expected.
“Socialism works only until you run out of other people’s money.”
-Margaret Thatcher
Oh come on, he delivered on the “hope and change”…
The Change part is undeniable.
And you HOPE it will stop! There you go, he’s given you something to hope for…
Free Trade & abandoning Glass-Steagall did more to lower the standard of living of the middle class (which became the lower class) than every regulation that came afterword. Remove the added regulations (many necessary as I retired from the Oil Refining Industry) and manufacturing is still leaving for 50 cent foreign labor.
Free Trade was the rain that created, “The Rust Belt”.
My husband works in refining, and for the second year in a row, there will be no raises due to “cheap oil”. I’m not really complaining because he has (and deserves) a lucrative job. The man works his butt off for them. However, there’s no way his company isn’t making a huge profit and I’m sure upper-upper management is getting a large percentage of these profits. If social security is still around, his “entitlement” will be less than it would be if he got a raise, but for now, we’re counting all of our blessings. We’re both employed, but we’re not spending very money anywhere.
A new wealth classification needs to be added:
the tent and underpass class of people.
The poverty class is a step above.
OutWest
Yes, poverty has an address and gets public assistance. Living under a bridge is third word. Maybe they’ll be called “thirds”.
“People can still eat but when they start to skip meals because they can’t pay rent or basic utilities…”
Bad news, that was happening already in 1998…
I agree and good to hear you bargain shop as we do.
The obomacare thing is going to bust the medicare system. The insurance companies are getting a free pass to overcharge and the gov, and states, are cutting back on the amount of payments to medicare as well.
The obomacare system will not help anyone eventually and is not sustainable. Fewer and fewer young people (20 to 35) are signing up, and are just resigning themselves to pay the penalties/tax.
If there is a potus election. and a repub gets in, a sure sign that they are under the thumb of the illuminati/nwo, will be if they don’t try to repeal the obolacare mess. It is about control, primarily.
Many would say that this is already happening. I know many people working full time jobs who are food insecure.
Chocolate syrup for milk or ice cream.
3/4 cup cocoa
1 1/2 cups sugar
Dash salt
1 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla
Mix with whisk often. …bring to boil 1-2
Minutes. Makes approx 2 cups. Tastes just like the real thing!
Store in frig.
Appreciate the recipe. Going to have to try it since I hate buy chocolate syrup with high fructose corn syrup for the kids.
For eff’s sake, have you seen fast food prices?
It’s like you drop 10 bucks every time you go now. It’s ridiculous. It’s like a real restaurant price wise, but with crap food and the “table” is your car.
How the hell is this a viable business model?
One word — “convenience”. The fast food joints did not build vast fortunes by serving decent food; they did so by catering to the insatiable desire for convenience.
This continues unabated. The two current buzzwords are “connectivity” and “mobility”. The masses want to be wired up 24/7 no matter where they are or what they are doing. Even people who are living hand-to-mouth are willing to spend $50 to $100 per month to support their smartphone addictions. The essential principle behind it all is convenience — if you discover a way to make an activity easy then you are practically guaranteed success; and if you add a few bells & whistles to make it seem like fun as well, then people will clamor to throw their money at you.
I am also one of the people they don’t like I don’t by useless shit I live with what I can use and nothing else don’t need brand name shit and live very nice because the stores don’t get my money………..
We don’t need any analysis to see the problem and the goal. The net is 1%’ers must be eliminated. Period.
The elimination would be worldwide as it has started in many countries and it is hits early stages. It would be hard and bloody but there is no other way to end the slavery.
Shoppers tip for this week. On sale at Target all the fixin’s for green bean casserole and Del Monte veggies .59 a can. Also check out the clearance in the garden department, some interesting leftovers there.
Thanks! Will go check it out…
gopher,
Family Dollar had corn, green beans, creamed corn, carrots and peas…on sale 2 for 1$. Save 18 cents on the Del Monte brand.
I hardly ever buy brand name foods because I know the difference is I end up paying for their advertising.
The truth is only a handful of businesses can foods and they do it for many companies & brands. To me, Del Monte is just a paper label.
We just finished canning 20 pints of apple jam yesterday, from the four bushels of apples we purchased in bulk, right from the farmer/orchardist last month. Starting the drying processes today for the majority of the remaining apples.
Last month, after our mountain fishing adventures, we counted up a grand total of 30 lbs. of fresh trout fillets, vacuum sealed and packed in the deep freeze. That new trout fishing bait is almost too good; it catches the big ones. Frying up about a dozen today, that we had frozen in blocks of ice from last year.
Just this morning, about 7:00 am, as I walked outside with the little house terrier pup, a big buck was feeding on acorns about 35 yards from the back porch. When the weather chills down enough, and the timing is right, i plan to harvest him for another supply of back strap fillets, and a few steaks and roasts, but mainly another 25 lbs. of dried jerky. The jerky keeps for years.
All the above foods are wonderful, natural blessings, from our Heavenly Father. Also, all the above foods, are meals that the wallymarkets and Mc e D’s don’t get a cut out of.
May God bless you with a doe to go with that buck! 🙂 love me some deer meat! Last year our neighbor bagged a couple of bucks, but does not eat it, so we traded for some grape jam I made from my grapes. We were all happy!
Sounds like a good deal, and I wish God’s blessing for you as well.
I don’t harvest any does around here because of too much pressure already from selfish hunters and the danged coyotes. I do harvest them at the B/O location though.
Don’t forget the two gallons of apple wine that we make from the leftover peelings and cores of the apples. I usually make a quart or two of my own fresh apple cider vinegar from it also.
Take a quart of good apple wine and mix in a couple tablespoons of cinnamon, 1 tbls. each of ground cloves and nutmeg. Add a half cup of brown sugar. shake and mix over a couple days or three, and then strain through coffee filter. Add a quart of apple brandy, and voila’, an apple pie toddy for those cold December evenings by the fire.
Sure beats the old hot russian tea, the x used to make.
Passin, do tell about the trout bait…
Met an old guy with a day’s limit on trout. Asked what he used.
Gummy bears…
Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago and our nation was the most prosperous in the world.
We had no national debt, the largest middle class in the world, and Mom stayed home to raise the kids.
What happened? Can you spell ‘politicians?’
Accounts Receivable Tax
Building Permit Tax
CDL license Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Dog License Tax
Excise Taxes
Federal Income Tax
Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel Permit Tax
Gasoline Tax
Gross Receipts Tax
Hunting License Tax
Inheritance Tax
Inventory Tax
IRS Interest Charges IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
Liquor Tax
Luxury Taxes
Marriage License Tax
Medicare Tax
Obamacare Tax – no insurance, pay the penalty.
Personal Property Tax
Property Tax
Real Estate Tax
Service Charge Tax
Social Security Tax
Road Usage Tax
Recreational Vehicle Tax
Sales Tax
School Tax
State Income Tax
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
Telephone Federal Excise Tax
Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax
Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Taxes
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax
Telephone Recurring and Nonrecurring Charges Tax
Utility Taxes
Vehicle License Registration Tax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Watercraft Registration Tax
Well Permit Tax
Workers Compensation Tax
And at the time there was such as supporting a family with a single wage.
You weren’t competing with 50 cent per hour labor devoid of civilized environmental and health and safety regulation in the roughly three decades post WWII.
Actually, several of those taxes have been around more than 100 years….one telephone excise tax for example, was put on to help finance the Spanish American War….and was only removed a few years back, more than 100 years after the war.
Other taxes have come about as technology developed….there was no need for a gasoline tax, for example, when your roads were simply dirt wagon ruts. (Toll roads, often built with private funds, HAVE been around a lot longer than 100 years). You want a nice paved interstate highway, it has to be paid for. (Although if you go up to YankeeLand, they love to put toll booths on FEDERAL INTERSTATES that were, and are still, being paid for by fuel taxes….any way to grab a fee)
Also, as people live closer and closer together, they actually want more regulation (paid for by taxes) and services. You can’t dump your sewer waste out the back door of an apartment building….and you can’t economically drill a well on every 1/4ac lot in a subdivision of 1/4ac lots….in order to live like that (and thank GOD I don’t), you have to have central services….that get financed by taxes/fees.
Also, as people live closer, they want more govt weenies to regulate and arbitrate rules. We live in a relatively (compared to many areas of the country)regulation free area (code/zoning wise)…and one of the things I often hear from people that move in here and then begin to bitch about their neighbor’s junk pile, or cow barn or whatever, is “Well, THIS is how WE did it back up in (insert the overtaxed, highly regulated hellhole they were fleeing) so and so” and they expect some govt weenie to come alleviate their complaint.
But the point IS taken. Once a tax is in place, you simply finance a way for bureaucrats to come with endless ways to grow their little kingdoms.
@Ky Mom: You spoke more reality sense in your comment than I’ve heard in my entire life combined. May Christ bless you all the days of your life. Thanks for the insight. PS: May we add that 100 years ago most government employees didn’t get paid, and none of them had retirement and medical benefits. Oh, and by the way, the military actually won wars instead of coming home saying, “We were defending the country”. thanks again
If they didn’t get paid, they weren’t an employee, by definition. They were a volunteer.
As for wars, the US was only in 3 declared wars prior to WW1 (which was 98 years ago)…..The War of 1812, the Mexican War of 1846, and the Spanish American War of 1898.
The first one really was “defending the country”…the Brits wanted us back.
The Mexican war was about territory. We offered to buy the Southwest, they didn’t want to sell, things got ugly, we went to war, then settled it by treaty in which we paid less than half of what we offered before the war (about 18mil).
The Spanish American war…somebody smoking in the powder room of the warship “Maine” blew it up, and hey, that was as good an excuse as any to run down there and “rough ride”…..”Remember The Maine !”
And the Military wasn’t hogtied by their Commander in Chief and his honchos. Anyone who wants to win a war knows you listen to the people who know how to fight them and often they are NOT PC. Many who serve are fed up with the social experimentation going on but try to help those that are under them. I will tell anyone today – you want to serve your country, do it locally. EMT, sheriff, search & rescue team, volunteer firefighter, food bank whatever. The politicians (most haven’t ever served) use and abuse the military for their whims. The military was never meant to be the world police!
I spent 23 years in the military. I retired in 2003. I pray every day my children reject the military as a career choice. This country, which re-elected a man like Obama, is not worth their life.
We’re fixing to can 12 pumpkins this weekend. The day after Halloween, must pumpkin patches in my area gives away their left over pumpkins. We can a metric butt-ton of pumpkin this time of year. Freed food that’s healthy too.
Weedhopper,
How do you can pumpkin? Salt sugar vinegar?
Recipe?
Thanks!
Few Americans thought Obama would leave them with nothing but hope and some change (in their pockets)!
This is part of a globally-coordinated plan to bring down the majority of the US population, in which the best will be allowed to integrate as low-wage workers for Chinese businesses when they onshore to the US, while significant numbers of the low-IQ, genetically inferior ‘folks’ will find themselves slow- and fast-killed by high crime, malnutrition, drugs, chemicals, Muslims and GMOs.
The world will be bifurcated into the countries that shall be high-value (Nordic countries, Asian countries) and those that will be low-value (the UK, the US, Africa, Eastern Europe, Latin America).
You are seeing the trickle down effect of Obamacare.
Most full time jobs have become part time jobs.
Almost no one gets over 30 hours.
Just wait until the New World Order Elite decide to collapse the economy or devalue the Dollar, then the fecal matter will hit the rotating oscillating device!
Obamacare was never about healthcare. It was/is about control.
Obamacare was passed because knowledge of what was in the bill was hidden and because of the stupidity of the American Voter.
“In a newly surfaced video, one of Obamacare’s architects admits a “lack of transparency” helped the Obama administration and congressional Democrats pass the Affordable Care Act.
The conservative group American Commitment posted Jonathan Gruber’s remarks, reportedly from an Oct. 17, 2013, event, on YouTube.
“Lack of transparency is a huge political advantage,” says the MIT economist who helped write Obamacare. “And basically, call it the stupidity of the American voter or whatever, but basically that was really, really critical for the thing to pass.”
“This is the contempt the Obama Administration has for the American Electorate.”
Direct link…
http://patriotaction.net/profiles/blogs/obamacare-passed-because-you-re-stupid
KY Mom, spot on. Remember when Nancy Pelosi said, “We have to pass the bill so we can see what’s in it.” GMAFB!
John, not trickle down but rather – trickle up poverty
Nailed it!
The dollar value has already depleted if you go to the grocery stores. Food is survival, and when that went up and earnings went down, there is less spending on consumer goods.
Lets see what Christmas sales are doing this season. The government will call the season a success with GDP numbers, but don’t let it fool anyone. The GDP includes money spent on Obama-care premiums which are increasing as we write, government spending with 80 billion more to waste, and borrowed money that may not be paid back (25% of spending during the holidays is on credit cards in Christmas 2014).
Woogie, spot on. I did some more prep shopping last night and have definitely noticed my FRNs don’t go as far as they used to. Since I’m one of the more fortunate who still makes decent money and have NO credit debt whatsoever, I’m still getting all I can. It will be interesting to see how Christmas turns out this year, especially Black Friday. I’ll bet a dollar to a doughnut there will still be tons of idiot sheeple fighting each other over stupid things in the stores. I always make it a point to stay out of all stores on that day. There’s a reason it’s called BLACK Friday.
The middle class has all but disappeared? Imagine that. Consider these “wise” words:
“The way to crush the bourgeoisie (middle class) is to grind them between the millstones of taxation and inflation.” Vladimir Lenin
“It’s time for a new beginning, for an end to government of the few, by the few and for the few, and to replace it with shared prosperity.” Karl Marx 1875
“It’s time for a new beginning, for an end to government of the few, by the few and for the few, and to replace it with shared prosperity.” Karl Marx 1875
“I have a new vision of an America in which prosperity is shared by all.” Obama, August 2012
Yep, “shared by all”…..all the elites and liberals. Which btw. seems to be both in the same.
“Socialism is the prelude or ‘intermediate step’ towards communism,” according to the Communist Manifesto written in 1848 by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.
“The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism. But, under the name of ‘liberalism,’ they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program, until one day America will be a socialist nation, without knowing how it happened.”
-Norman Mattoon Thomas, a Socialist Party candidate 6 times:
KY Mom, you nailed it with that quote from Thomas. That’s exactly what we’re seeing today.
PWTW, the only thing I’ll share with anyone is ‘lead nutrients’.
How about “Death to America”: Iranian Savages
“Strike the infidels at their neck”: The Koran/Satan’s Bible
“I’m working to see the end of all national borders in Europe”: George Soros 2015
Point about those Iranian Savages…..rather than being the typical American idiot, you might want to figure out WHY they keep hollering “death to America”.
Iran had a democratically elected govt in the early 1950s….the prime minister’s name was Mossadegh. He got this wild hair to audit the books of the British oil company (now called BP) that was extracting oil from Iran…thinking “hey….they might be screwing us on the numbers” (they probably were).
BP refused to let ’em look at the books….so the Iranian parliament said “Fine….we’ll just nationalize our oil and kick your asses out”.
Yeah….well, as other folks have found out, when you have something real valuable like oil, there is gonna be a fight. And it came to pass that coup was organized by the Brits with the help of the CIA, and the Shah of Iran (a king) was installed.
Now the Shah stayed the Shah by chopping off the heads of anybody that was stupid enough to think they ought to have a govt of their choosing (that Declaration of Independence thing)….and he ran a tight ship with the help of British and American military stuff….until the day came that the people revolted and threw his ass out.
Now, as is often the case, the baby got thrown out with the bath water, and the Iranian pendulum swung too far in the direction of religious nuts controlling the place, but the point of this tale is:
THEY HAVE A GOOD REASON TO BE PISSED OFF AT THE U.S. !
So the next time you look at all the stink around the world, instead of first calling them savages, or whatever, you MIGHT want to ask what the hell made them that way….and you might not like the answer, because it originates often in the boardroom of some home grown corporations, and is doled out by their enforcement arm….the CIA and the US military.
Andy, how are things in Iran? Did you remember to pray 5 times today? Did you do it along or with some other SAVAGES.
What you are blathering about happened like 30-50 years ago jerk. Talk about holding on to hate!
You might like to get a copy of a book titled “Guests of the Ayatollah”. This explains that the takeover of Iran was done by Iranian KGB agents, some of which were trained at U.S. Universities.
Oh, FYI, the head Ayatollah today attended the KGB college in Moscow back in the Cold War era.
So I guess if the KGB came here, overthrew our government and installed Hilliary as Queen, with Chelsee to follow, you’d be OK with that ?
Because that is basically what we did in Iran, dumbass.
TnAndy, you can’t be an American as you sound too level headed, thoughtful and intelligent to be one!
It’s also strange how all the bible bashers and God botherers on this site are totally consumed with hatred for anyone who disagrees with their twisted version of Christianity, which, after all, is supposed to preach love and tolerance to all.
In a way they’re almost a mirror image of Muslim extremists.
OK, “those things” happened 30 to 50 years ago (I do like your vagueness in historic timing).
Heck, the 2nd world war finished oooh, let’s see 70 years or so ago. Let’s forget about that shall we? The Vietnam war finished oooh, let’s see, 40 years ago. Yes, let’s best forget about that one too.
There are people still alive who lived through those hellish times, but what the hell, using your convulated thinking, don’t think of them – too far back to bother about.
Why bother with your precious 2nd amendment? After all that took place 200 years ago, so, according to you, is to be ignored!
In the near and middle east you’re tripping up over 3000 years of hatred and American political ignorance (alongside with American public apathy) of that history is simply adding fuel to the fire.
I agree that all that corporate and political greed shit has not helped the situation with the muzzies, but the bottom line is that any religious fanatic with a Godless book/bible as their guide, that insights murder and rape of anyone, much less the innocent, is purely evil…and evil is all they know.
Walmart to Hershey to Campbell’s Soup
and
The companies’ plan for rescuing themselves is to turn themselves into luxury brands targeted at the wealthy.
I’m sorry, but Walmart, Hershey and Campbell’s soup do NOT strike me as capable of anything even closely resembling “luxury” branding.
Too many ticks on a dog, eventually the dog dies. You can only take so much from an entity before it collapses. It’s not rocket science…….
Donald trump calling out the president on fed not raising interest rates cause he doesn’t want
To deal with the aftermath during his administration…….
Powdered sugar….confectioners type.
1 cup sugar
1-2 Tablespoons cornstarch
Place in blender, blend on high until powdery consistency is achieved.
That is a new one on me MYO thanks!
Thanks! I hadn’t seen this before.
Surely Obama will fit down the chimney for the greater good.
Used to buy Walmart clothes. Now if I must have something, I look at Good Will weigh and pay. Except for socks. I never managed to get to be middle class, so I long ago learned to “Eat The Weeds”. I always saw Cambells as rich people food.
Me too except underwear and socks at Goodwill and sales that sell new T-shirts cheaper than Goodwill. I make my own soup which is mmm-mmm Gooder than Campbell’s soup and cheaper too. Gotta save money, but once you learn you pay more for convenience and less quality in a can, inconvenience your self and find out what you are missing!
I only eat what I grow . Grow enough on quarter acre to last me year . Plus fruit trees
Did the Rich finally kill the Golden Goose because of their greed?
As the size of containers get smaller, decrease in the quality of the product continues and the increase of cost is passed on to the consumer. The consumer who buys all their shit is dying. Even if the consumer Max’s out the credit card the game will come to an end. It will become too expensive to live or support our vices and addictions to STUFF. Then we have either a revolt by the poor and desperate or we are enslaved to eat the crumbs from the tables of the Rich.
It all boils down to this. That we have to prepare for war. Don’t know exactly who we will be fighting but we will eventually fight somebody. Like it or not.
i recently came out of retirement due to a job opportunity i could not pass up. on the way to my new job i drive through parts of town i haven’t seen in about a years time, in 37 miles of travel there are 2 super walmarts being built HHgregg appliance store and several others expanding. gas stations going up on every single corner, new construction for restaurants and small strip malls, walmart is constantly packed with people from all walks of life, a new aldi just went up also down the street. job adds are numerous on indeed.com craigslist and other such web based hiring services, jobs for electricians mechanics of all sorts concrete workers, upwards of 18 or so bucks an hour on average. all the crap i keep reading on this site is not what i see on the street lately, not buying it, at all.
umm
so you looked out YOUR window and saw the sun shining
so that means it’s not raining anywhere ???
I will tell you what there is a shortage of… educated Americans. I work in tech and GOOD LUCK trying to find anyone decent. Companies are constantly scraping the world-wide bucket to get barely competent people. Try working with the legal profession. Try working with any profession. You have people practicing air quality testing with zero understanding of chemistry or physics. All I can assume is most Americans have worthless or no education.
The real shortage is people who can actually do something. Hired a maid for $300/cleaning. Older woman who’s been cleaning for years. Didn’t 1/2 do squat. Hired two immigrants for the same (I guess they were immigrants, one spoke great English). They made the place better than new. I guess hard work is missing in America too.
It’s not what’s on the street of your town. It’s in the numbers. If you don’t believe we are in serious trouble, don’t prepare yourself, stay away, and go on with your life. I sort out what is real by doing fact checks. I won’t be caught with my pants down. If you don’t believe we’ll have a another crash you don’t know history. Good luck.
Hundreds of white collar workers at Caterpillar thought the sun was shining until very recently. Those with jobs at Cat are quite concerned if they are next in Illinois.
762 I have to disagree. When I started in the automotive trade as a mechanic I received 50% of shop rate which was 45 an hour and 25% of parts.
Fast forward 30 years. Now I make less than 1/6 of shop rate
no parts bonus. I have had to invest in training to stay up with technology, spent 100 to 150,000 on tools to do my job
and cars are harder to work on. Yes $18.00 an hour seems like good wages. Until you figure what some of us have invested. We don’t get paid by the hour. 99% of mechanics
get paid flat rate. The labor book says how long it should take and that’s what you get paid.
I make less today than I did in 1985. all things considered I should make $45.00 an hour for my knowledge, skills and tools. Things are not as rosy as you think they are.
Where do you live? If you are in the Washington area everything is going good. get outside of the area and it all goes to hell. step out of your area and you’ll see something else.
Kind of reminds you of the Hunger GAmes movies.
My husband, an extremely intelligent, successful, and hard-working business executive, has been unemployed for 8 months. He has sent out hundreds of resumes, worked with numerous recruiters, and networked with many former colleagues, all to no avail. He is willing to take a substantial cut in pay, to move, even to travel far from home and work for extended periods of time, but no one will hire him. He is only 44 years old, but is being told again and again that he is too old and should think about retiring! The HR departments, run mainly by girls fresh off of 4 years of drinking parties, want to hire only young and inexperienced people. We are still raising children and retirement is not an option. We are getting close to bankruptcy and fight despair every day.
There may be some pockets of growth here and there, but make no mistake about it–things are very bad in the work world, and the greed of business CEOs and stock holders, constantly pushing for “doing more with less” by cutting and cutting their work forces, plays no small part in this. Eventually, they all put their own customers out of work, and nobody has money to buy their products. Greed is short sighted and is self-defeating in the long run. We’re now arriving at the long run.
MG ~ I don’t pretend to know all the answers, but it seems to me that your best solution might be to start your own business. I can attest from personal experience (caring for my dad, a WWII combat vet in his late 90s) that home-care agencies are swamped with requests from desperate clients and literally can’t hire people fast enough. This is just an example; look for what people want/need in your area and figure out a way to provide better service than existing companies. Best of luck to your family ~ KV
I am not seeing the same view. Not to mention an article talking about a huge drop in retail sales in October. I am glad your area is booming.
Couldn’t be more wrong. I am definitely not a “1%er” but I’m definitely not broke either. Hard work still means something in this country if you’re willing to put your nose to the grindstone.
The ” homeless and broke ” in America have smart phones and usually a car.
Also, if you can afford to prep, you’re not broke.
I wonder..my kid makes 46K a year, filed bankruptcy last year, holds 3 jobs with a FT & 2 PT jobs and lives hand to mouth. Has a new car payments, high mortgage payments, adjustments to property taxes that are high, shops at expensive stores, student loans, clothing C Cards, goes out to eat, goes out for entertainment all the time, etc.
I make under 10K a year working hard at my job, have 15K in cash savings, no credit card debts, a retirement plan coming, and a year of preps. I cook at home, create projects for entertainment and can food, one low mortgage due to a fixer upper as I go, paid tractor, paid truck, low taxes, no adjustments, have a garden, hunt, fish, etc. Never was late on a payment, never spent more than what I could afford.
It makes all the difference in your lifestyle, not necessarily how hard you work.
Woogie, no wonder your kid is broke. I made the same amount last year before taxes. I’ve got some savings but the majority of my FRNs go to prep shopping, my spare money that is. No credit card bills, car notes, or mortgage payments. I rent a single-family home. I have a company vehicle but saving up for another vehicle from a private owner, where all mine have come from in the past for cash only. Never dealt with a car salesman ever. You always get a better deal from a private owner. I always live within my means.
And many living in homeless shelters WORK. A lot of people in shelters have no family support.
I am creating a food forest on five acres. I am replacing corporate food with wild edibles and gardens. I am even replacing some things like hair conditioner and deodorant. I still owe a bit on my land but nothing else. I am shifting from high maintenance gardening to adapted foods. I now grow Bolita Beans that produce on natural rainfall here in the mountains. Most of us are doing our best but I don’t trust corporate America to feed us after they’d squeezed every dollar for themselves. I think “hard working” is a pipe dream for those who haven’t been squashed yet… encouraged by mainstream media to keep you thinking you are separate and different from those who already got hurt. Beware divide and conquer rhetoric of any kind.
here in the Pac NW, housing costs are so high that there is no discretionary income left to spend on anything else and many small niche businesses (jewelry, chocolates, clothing, stationery, souvenirs, soaps and lotions)are going under. On another subject, I found out its possible to make fruit jam without using wood to heat the stove, I was informed that you can put your raw fruit and a little sugar in a dishpan, put any window glass on top of the pan, set it out in the sun all day, bring it inside at night and stir, then repeat until its the consistency you want. neat huh?
That is neat. I turned a large wooden plant pot into a slow cooker by lining it with aluminum foil, using a black enamel pot inside, and covering with glass. Put about a my thing in the pot and sit in full sun. No electricity! I would love to build a cob oven too and bake bread in it, since I had wooded property.
Love going by the new car dealers day in day out, same cars still sitting on the lot …who’s got 50 grand for a dam car?
The low-lifes lease new cars up here, it doesn’t count as an asset, so they still get their welfare.
Don’t eat no store bought soup. Tastes terrible. Make all our own and can it up. Ham and green bean, ham and northern bean, vegetable beef, chicken corn. Huge stockpots at a time.
Don’t eat no store bought canned food except maybe coffee. Grow, raise or hunt most and buy the rest from the locals and can it up. Huge stockpots at a time.
Just finished up on 100 lbs more of tomatoes today. Won’t need to do them for several years. Jalapeno chili sauce, spaghetti sauce and tomato juice and canned it up. Huge stockpots at a time.
Get beef hearts and kidneys free from my local butcher who can’t sell them. Pickled heart for me and canned kidney and heart for me doggie. Huge stockpots at a time.
Hundreds of mason jars of food and jugs of home made booze lining the walls of the cellar. From meats and greens to hot baloney and apple sauce and everything in between. Huge stockpots at a time.
Won’t catch us or the pooch starving anytime soon. The stuff lasts forever in glass.
Get crackin’. Buy some huge stockpots. Get out of the blue light and into the yellow light and get some dirt under your nails.
Planted 460 cloves of garlic this past weekend.
Got lettuce and spinach growing in the unheated greenhouse and will be able to harvest that most of the winter. Still picking radishes(under cover) in the garden with another crop in the greenhouse.
Thumbs up to you AOWG.
Hair conditioner / detaingler
pour shampoo into hand. Add 1 teaspoon baking soda. Shampoo as usual, rinse.
Pour equal amounts of water and vinegar in a spray mist bottle. Can be used on wet or dry hair. Smell dissipates quickly.
Works on very long thick hair.
Make your own:
For dry hair, a few drops of olive oil in the palm of the hand, rub into hair, especially at the ends. If you use on long, thick hair, will help to de tangle. Leave in over night. Shampoo out if a lot is used. Leaves hair shinny and beautiful. Secret beauty since ancient times. Use on skin. No chemical contaminants to sink into your blood like most modern creams. Coconut oil also works.
I have been wanting to stock up on infant formula. It costs $30.00 for a small can of powered formula. What a rip off. And the manufacturers can double or quadruple the price whenever they want. Pregnant women should seriously consider the benefits of breastfeeding. It helps your figure to return by contracting the uterus. There is a group known as leleche (the milk) that helps first timers. But it is the most natural and easy thing to do. You don’t need anything. Save your money. Save your baby’s health.
A question for you folks in the energ industry….if grid gets hacked, and it ALL goes down, how long to get it back up running?
Months if you’re lucky,years if you’re not. Many will die in a long term period of non electricity.
Go off the grid, then don’t worry about it.
I did, it was the best decision I have ever made.
A coworker was talking about it, he started a conversation today out of the blue. He was telling someone he was going to put away 2 weeks food. So either he’s using OPSEC, OR he needs to read up. I had figured it would be a long term situation. We are working toward off grid. Priorities though. I can live without electricity. It’ll be a pain, but I could do it.
“From Walmart to Hershey to Campbell’s Soup, America’s biggest retailers and manufacturers are warning their shareholders that flat growth is a fact of life because of “consumer bifurcation,” which is plutocrat-speak for “everyone is broke except the one percent.”
Quit pandering to homosexuals, and I might buy your products, else I will depend on my own skills to get what I want and bypass your Godless corporations.
I totally agree. I saw the latest Campbell’s commercial (the two “Star Wars” dads) and thought “Well, scratch that one off the list”. The Honey Maid graham cracker commercial was before that one – celebrating gay parenting. The latest and greatest commercial is Kaiser Permanente. They’re celebrating gay marriage as they show two men proudly showing off their brand new wedding rings.
Honestly, at this rate, we will have to boycott everything and everyone, as this disease is spreading.
Or maybe they just built too many damn stores.
There doesn’t need to be a Walmart every two miles. There doesn’t need to be a Home Depot and a Lowes on every corner. There certainly doesn’t need to be a CVS and Walgreens/Rite Aid on every corner.
These companies just overbuilt. For the most part, the same people are buying what they need. There just is too much retail to support the sales.
Is this the part where the rich start to eat each other? Least rich first?
Or is this the part where they try to sell stuff in China?
BWAHAHAHAHAHA yeah. We just tried that. It was a disaster. Have fun with that!
I think prices will come down not up. The stores will have to sell at a lower price or close up. They would be left with a lot of inventory and also lay off people. Even with cheaper prices, if they don’t need it, they won’t have the money to buy.
If the Walmarts and Campbells of the world think the 1% are going to get them to prosperity they are dead wrong. There are not enough of the 1% and not enough money to get them all there. Not enough to go around. That was the thinking of TARP.
It’s very ironic that all these major retailers are whining about slow sales when the fact is that consumers are determined to balance their budgets while rejecting the poison that these purveyors have been pushing on us. Diabetes is at epidemic proportions so the folks start cutting out sugary drinks and candy, and then the pushers whine. People are getting wise to Monsanto and their GMO ‘frankenfood’, so Monsanto buys a few politicians to pass a law banning disclosure of GE ingredients on our packages. The folks are questioning the efficacy of vaccine ingredients, so what does Big Pharma do? They buy a few politicians and the FDA to mandate that everyone must be vaccinated in order to come to school without ANY exemptions. We’ve had the War on Poverty, the War on Drugs, the War on Illiteracy, the War on Terrorism. The ONLY successful War has been the War on the Middle Class.
I can’t imagine what they’re talking about. The ipods and iPhones fly off the shelves, the expensive Nikes sell out. Who’s buying that? Not the 1% in most cases.
The people without enough to get through two paychecks are buying lottery tickets, expensive smartphones, gold jewelry, expensive liquor, trips to the Caribbean.
The smart people are buying board games, making soup from the turkey bones for the next day, sharing expenses and cutting back if necessary, but they have money in the bank.
Too bad those people are going to be taxed to death to support the lazy slobs with the big trucks and the expensive phones.
Tons of shit paying jobs but the good jobs disappear. Plain and simple.
People just now are fighting to hold on but looking towards the future it’s only a matter of time before there fingers start to slip.
Don’t riot, no just go to the rich area and ask the owners to put you up for the night, smile and be nice as you ask them to pass the brandy.
it’s just a matter of time and this is what you get for sitting on your bum and shuting up when told too.
I’m weary of all the whining about 1%ers. I’m not a 1%er and I’m having zero financial difficulty–if I want something, I go out and buy it. People need to budget and stop buying (or renting) homes, cars, etc. that are above their means.
What a surprise that, in a rigged dog-eat-dog Capitalist system, a few, fat, ruthless dogs are gorging on all the nice little doggies. Never saw that one coming.