Increasing Prices Biggest Consumer Concern Now?
Well, I know for me personally, the rising prices of everything from gasoline to my breakfast cereal is what’s on my mind these days when I think about our current “economic downturn” ehem – recession. What’s your biggest concern? Most would say it’s the rising costs of everything – not just gas, according to recent statistics on what antsy consumers are the most worried about these days.
Heck, even Wal-Mart is suffering from less earnings now in this economic downturn, which is counter to thought because usually heavily discounted stores thrive in recessions. However, stores like TJ Maxx and other discounted retail outlet stores are doing better, which is to be expected.
When I get the electric bill, I notice it is much higher than it even was last summer, which just goes to show the rising energy costs aren’t just all about gas, they’re about energy across the board. Also, we’ve noticed that our grocery bill has increased somewhat dramatically when factoring in the short span of time that has passed since it increased. Inlfation usually takes a bit longer to kick in than say, a year, which is what’s been going on here with food prices and the general cost of living.
Heck, even when we go out to eat, we’ve noticed our favorite restaurants are cutting portions of our regular dishes. How do we know? Because we tend to order the same dish at many of our favorite haunts, and we’ve noticed the portion sizes have been cut down, big time. It seems like even pizza joints are cutting down on one of the costliest items to make their pizzas – the cheese.
Seems everyone’s hurting this time from the economics of our year so far. Also, 2008 didn’t get off to a great start since that was just when all the subprime hoopla was seriously coming to light as an issue that would not pass lightly. I’m reminded of what economic time we’re in when even one of my favorite discount outlets for food, Marc’s, has increased their prices on just about everything.
Used to be they’d keep their prices on certain items steady for a few years, and they’ve increased the cost of everything from pretzels and chips to dairy products, including my favorite cottage cheese, substantially. It’s still a better deal than the grocery store I suppose, but I use Giant Eagle for all my shopping now because I get the gas points that pay for a portion of my enormous gas tank filling bill. Hopefully we come out of this by next year, if not, people are going to start getting very restless.
